1959
Events that took place in Fairfax County in 1959:
Contents
January
- January 1 – Fred M. Packard takes over as the first full-time director of the Fairfax County Park Authority.[1]
- January 21 – Falls Church Supervisor Joseph H. Freehill suffers a heart attack during a meeting of the Board of Supervisors. The stricken supervisor is taken to Arlington Hospital, where he dies.[2]
- January 22 – The Fairfax County Water Authority takes over the Annandale Water Company with the sale of $3 million in bonds, which includes the purchase price of $1,225,000 and the costs of improving and expanding the service area.[3]
February
- February 2 – 57-year-old Lucille A. Blake is found dead in a ditch along Lee Highway just north of Fairfax Circle, the victim of an apparent hit and run.[4]
- February 7 – 22-year-old tenant farmer Clarence A. Johnson is mortally wounded by 34-year-old Martha E. Bowers at his farm in Chantilly when she uses a shotgun to settle an argument.[5][6]
March
- March 9 – 34-year-old Martha E. Bowers is cleared of charges by a grand jury in the fatal shooting of Clarence A. Johnson on February 7 .[7]
- March 24 – 33-year-old house painter Roland W. Miller commits suicide in the driveway of his house at 6825 Orland Street in Falls Church by asphyxiating himself with carbon monoxide.[8]
April
- April 6 – Nine-month-old Robert H. Jackson, Jr. is fatally burned when a jar of gasoline explodes in the kitchen of his family's home at 3120 Elmwood Drive in the Burgundy Village neighborhood of Alexandria. The infant is taken to the Alexandria Hospital, where he dies of his burns on April 19.[9][10]
- April 11 – 41-year-old Joseph B. Matthews interrupts breakfast in the family home at 6505 Highland Avenue in Springfield by beating to death his 3 children, 14-year-old Susan and 13-year-old twins Sharon and Steven, and attempting to murder his 43-year-old wife Helen with a baseball bat. He then commits suicide by slashing his own throat with a butcher knife.[11][12]
May
- May 5 – Fairfax County School Board member Theodore S. Heriot, representing the Centreville District, charges that a staff report on the plan to introduce middle schools, switching the county from a 7-5 to a 6-2-4 system, deliberately misrepresents the cost of the change at $4.3 million rather than the much higher total cost of $9 million.[13]
- May 12 – The American Water Works Company of Wilmington, Delaware rejects a joint offer from Fairfax County and the City of Alexandria to buy the Alexandria Water Company for $20 million.[14]
- May 15 – The General Services Administration announces that 31 parcels of land purchased for the proposed international airport at Burke in 1951 will be sold at auction on June 13.[15]
- May 25 – The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors votes 4-3 to increase the tax rate on real and personal property to $3.75 per $100 of assessed value, a 45 cent increase over the previous rate of $3.30.[16]
- May 30 – The promotions of four Fairfax County Police officers are announced by Major William L. Durrer. Stanley H. Dodson is promoted to captain, John A. Wahl, Jr. is promoted to lieutenant, Richard H. Lester to detective sergeant, and Eugene G. Columbus to the rank of sergeant.[17]
June
- June 15 – 21-year-old Charles S. Gould fatally shoots 33-year-old William F. Goad with a .22 caliber rifle in Lorton.[18][19]
- June 25 – 50-year-old Dale D. Nutter is shot to death by his 49-year-old wife, Elizabeth V. Nutter, while he sleeps in their house at 516 Waterway Drive in the Lake Barcroft neighborhood of Falls Church.[20]
July
- July 8 – Four-year-old Diane Berry drowns in Lake Barcroft in Falls Church.[21]
- July 16 – 15-year-old William Crosby drowns in a pond in the Indian Spring neighborhood of Alexandria.[22]
August
- August 8 – By a 4-2 vote, the Fairfax County School Board adopts a plan for desegregating the Fairfax County Public Schools system. The plan calls for desegregating one grade a year, starting with the first grade class in the fall of 1960.[23]
September
- September 3 – Ossian Hall is burned by the Annandale Volunteer Fire Department.
- September 10 – 16-year-old Annandale High School student Peter J. Riordan commits suicide in Springfield as part of a pact with Patricia Arcularius.[24]
- September 21 – The Congressional School opens the for the first day of school at its new campus in Falls Church.
October
- October 11 – 36-year-old Juanita M. Shepherd takes a lethal dose of rat poison at her home in Lorton. Shepherd is taken to Alexandria Hospital, where she dies.[25]
- October 11 – 46-year-old Harry F. Griffith shoots himself in the head with a .22 caliber rifle in the barn on his farm two miles south of Centreville.[26][27]
- October 21 – Following an argument with his wife Rhonda, 22-year-old Martin F. Jones shoots himself in the head at the couple's home at 1316 Washington Avenue in Alexandria.[28]
- October 31 – The Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority opens its first park in Fairfax County, the Bull Run Regional Park in Centreville.[29]
December
- December 2 – Following a five-month investigation into conflict of interest charges, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors fires Hospital Commission chairman Donald L. Wilkins and appoints attorney John D. K. Smoot to fill the remainder of his term.[30]
Crime
There were 6 murders in Fairfax County in 1959.[31]
References
- ↑ Ochs, David. "Park Authority Celebrates 60 Years." ResOURces 10 (Summer 2010): 1,4. Fairfax County Park Authority. Fairfax County Park Authority, 20 May 2010. Web. 24 Oct. 2012.
- ↑ Landauer, Jerry. "Supervisor Freehill Dies After Heart Attack." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 2. Jan 22 1959. ProQuest. Web. 3 Jan. 2014.
- ↑ "Water Firm Taken Over by Fairfax County Unit." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): B2. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). Jan 23 1959. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
- ↑ "Woman found Dead Near Fairfax Circle." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 1. Feb 03 1959. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). Web. 5 Oct. 2012.
- ↑ "Woman Held in Slaying of Farmer." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): A19. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). Feb 09 1959. Web. 7 Feb. 2012.
- ↑ "Housewife Held in Fatal Shooting." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): D1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). Feb 21 1959. Web. 7 Feb. 2012.
- ↑ "Woman Cleared in Fairfax Slaying." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 1. Mar 10 1959. ProQuest. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
- ↑ "Man Slated for Trial is found Dead." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 1. Mar 25 1959. ProQuest. Web. 10 May 2014.
- ↑ "Explosion Burns Baby, Father." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 1. Apr 07 1959. ProQuest. Web. 11 June 2017.
- ↑ "Gasoline Blast Fatal to Child." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 1. Apr 21 1959. ProQuest. Web. 11 June 2017.
- ↑ Lawson, John, and Albon B. Hailey. "Father Kills His 3 Children, Slays Self with Butcher Knife." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): A1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1994). Apr 12 1959. Web. 6 Feb. 2012.
- ↑ Guinn, Muriel, and Albon B. Hailey. "Autopsy Fails to Reveal Clue to Family Slaying." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): A3. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1994). Apr 14 1959. Web. 6 Feb. 2012.
- ↑ "Staff's School Report Splits Fairfax Board" Evening Star, 6 May 1959, Two Star Metropolitan, p. 34. NewsBank. Accessed 11 Dec. 2017.
- ↑ "Alexandria Water Co. Rejects $20 Million" Evening Star, 13 May 1959, Two Star Metropolitan, p. 28. NewsBank. Accessed 11 Dec. 2017.
- ↑ "Burke Site Land Auction Slated" Evening Star, 15 May 1959, Two Star Metropolitan, p. 23. NewsBank. Accessed 11 Dec. 2017.
- ↑ "Tax Rate Up 45 Cents As Fairfax Votes Budget" Evening Star, 26 May 1959, Two Star Metropolitan, p. 26. NewsBank. Accessed 11 Dec. 2017.
- ↑ "4 Policemen Promoted in Fairfax." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): C15. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). May 31 1959. Web. 6 Feb. 2012.
- ↑ "Alexandria Man Slain; Companion is Charged." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 1. Jun 16 1959. ProQuest. Web. 13 Aug. 2016.
- ↑ "Slaying Suspect Pleads Guilty." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Jan 06 1960. ProQuest. Web. 13 Aug. 2016.
- ↑ "Nutter Rites Slated Monday." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): A20. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). Jun 28 1959. Web. 12 Apr. 2012.
- ↑ Coleman, Barbara. "Girl, 4 Loses Life in Lake Barcroft." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 1. Jul 09 1959. ProQuest. Web. 15 June 2014.
- ↑ "Body in Pond is of Boy, 15." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 1. Jul 20 1959. ProQuest. Web. 24 July 2016 .
- ↑ McBee, Susanna. "Fairfax County School Board Keeps its New Desegregation Plan Secret." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 2. Aug 16 1959. ProQuest. Web. 26 Aug. 2014.
- ↑ McBee, Susanna, and Jerry Landauer. "Suicide Pact Kills Youth in Fairfax." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): A1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1994). Sep 10 1959. Web. 21 Dec. 2011.
- ↑ "Woman Kills Self After Car Crash" Evening Star, 12 Oct. 1959, Two Star Metropolitan, p. 27. NewsBank, . Accessed 3 Dec. 2017.
- ↑ "Centreville Death Of Transit Man Is Called Suicide" Evening Star, 12 Oct. 1959, Two Star Metropolitan, p. 27. NewsBank. Accessed 3 Dec. 2017.
- ↑ "Mechanic's Death is Ruled a Suicide." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Oct 13 1959. ProQuest. Web. 3 Dec. 2017.
- ↑ "Man Kills Self in Fairfax as Wife Watches." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): B5. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1994). Oct 22 1959. Web. 1 Jan. 2012.
- ↑ "County to Open Bull Run Park." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Oct 30 1959. ProQuest. Web. 24 July 2014.
- ↑ Lawson, John. "Wilkins Fired from Fairfax Hospital Post." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Dec 03 1959. ProQuest. Web. 11 Jan. 2014.
- ↑ "Area shows Increase of 15% in 1960 Crime." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Mar 01 1961. ProQuest. Web. 13 Aug. 2016.
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