This Year, Marking a Scrappy Start

Unlike developers of other suburbs or controlled developments, Wood & Harmon allowed owners to build whatever style of house suited their fancy. So Del Ray and St. Elmo came to life with Victorians, Queen Annes, bungalows, foursquares and other architectural styles, which give Del Ray its eclectic edge. A 15-foot setback from the street was required, and saloons and slaughterhouses were forbidden.

Del Ray soon became home to federal workers as well as those employed at Potomac Yards, then the largest railroad switching yard on the East Coast. By 1924, Del Ray had grocery stores, bakeries, dry goods shops, barber shops and a movie theater. By 1930, after more than 10 contentious years of resistance from the Town of Potomac, the area was annexed by Alexandria. And by 1932, the electric railway was gone.

"What killed the rail was the automobile, and we were in the forefront of that as well," Ness said.

In 1915, Del Ray was the site of one of the first federal highway construction projects as officials experimented with road surfaces and planned to extend Mount Vernon Avenue from the 14th Street bridge to historic Mount Vernon.

The task of organizing many of the centennial events is in the hands of local resident and business owner Pat Miller. She likes to think of it as a celebration of 100 years of Del Ray "funkiness."

"We had the racetrack. We had our whorehouses. We were never a boring suburb," she said. "That's the way it was, and that's fun."

So, in addition to lectures at the Lyceum and the seven historical signs the city will install to provide the locations of and information about the old racetrack, the almshouse and other landmarks, Miller and others are planning a Centennial Parade along the old trolley line in May. Classic cars will represent each decade, and planners are hoping that the community will build an old-fashioned float with napkins and chicken wire.

"We have no clue yet" what the float will be, Miller said. Everyone will be encouraged to wear an old hat. And as with the community's annual Halloween Parade, everyone will be encouraged to be in the Centennial Parade, rather than watch from the sidelines.

There will be a historic-home and garden show and a neighborhood "prom" in the fall. The Saturday farmers market vendors will put together a book of old recipes, and the local frozen custard shop, the Dairy Godmother, is dreaming up a centennial flavor. And there will be centennial twists to all the usual neighborhood events, Miller said, such as the monthly First Thursday neighborhood sidewalk festivals and the annual Art on the Avenue street fair. A centennial tree might be planted.

Miller said her committee is collecting oral histories from old-timers and will record stories and photos in a book to donate to the library or make accessible to the community.

"Del Ray has such a wonderful, interesting, fun history, I'm hoping we don't lose that," she said. "We don't want people to forget what it's all about"

Craig Lancto of the Sun Newspapers of Alexandria said that in an area as mobile as the Washington region, learning about and understanding the past is key to keeping a community alive.