Lyon Park:
Strong Sense of Community

By Linda Wheeler
Washington Post Staff Writer
June 11, 1994

The very young community of Lyon Park in Arlington needed a community center and developer Frank Lyon had set aside several acres for that purpose. Byron K. Enyart, now a retired World War II Army colonel, recalled that 15 families contributed $100 each in 1923 to match the funds of the developer and build the one-room frame building that resembles a country schoolhouse.

"We were very proud of it," he said. "It's been a wonderful thing."

For most of the 70 years since the center was built, the Lyon Park Citizens Association and the Women's Club have held fund-raisers at the center, first to pay off the mortgage, then to build a larger kitchen and more recently to replace the original hardwood floor that has worn out from many meetings, weddings, classes and concerts. The largest fund-raiser is an annual fair, held last month, with the traditional pony rides for young children, plants for sale from gardens of neighborhood residents, a hot dog and baked bean lunch, and a used-book sale.

Enyart, 87, a past president of the association, donated a dozen books for the sale and then stopped by to purchase two novels. He was one of several hundred residents who spent $2,500 at the volunteer-driven, four-hour festival that also included a silent auction, an old-fashioned cake walk and a bake sale.

The community center and park are owned by the residents of Lyon Park, said Mary Noll, 45, president of the Lyon Park Citizens Association.

"It is the only privately owned park in the county that is completely open to the public," she said. And that means the members are responsible for maintaining the building, the three acres of grass, the tall trees that shade the park and the playground equipment, she said.

Noll, 45, said the efforts of volunteers for special events such as the annual fair, spaghetti dinners, neighborhood house tours and a Christmas party make Lyon Park a good place to live.

"It is a charming family neighborhood and a nice place for me to raise my children as a single parent," she said. "It has a safe and warm feeling."

Noll was raised in Lyon Park. Her parents moved there in 1954, sending her and her four brothers and sisters to local schools. Noll's mother, LaVonne Brandts, 72, said the small-town character of Lyon Park attracted her and husband Hugo. They bought a white frame house on a quiet street, confident their children would be safe playing near home and at the community park a few blocks away.

Brandts, who now lives in Manassas Park, said she took her children to the Lyon Park fair each year. This year she came by to help her daughter run some of the games for youngsters.

"Neighborhoods are important," she said. "They give people a sense of warmth and a sense of belonging. It gives them roots. There is always a reason to come back here for a family reunion or a wedding. There is always the fair. Everyone seems to want to come back."

Noll, who returned to the family home on North Edgewood Street, said she knows of other grown children who have moved back to Lyon Park, including a best friend from her school days, Monica Craven.

Craven, 44, said she moved back to Lyon Park in 1981, when she and her husband, Larry, were searching for a house. She stopped by the playground outside the community center to swing for a moment and noticed a house on the corner for sale.

"The flowers in the garden looked fabulous," she said. "I knew that was the house for me."

Shortly after moving back to the neighborhood, Monica Craven got involved with the citizens association for the first time. There were neighborhood issues about new buildings, sewers and sidewalks, and she decided her family needed to be involved. Before long, Larry Craven was elected president and then Monica Craven served several terms as president. Now she is the executive director of the association, in charge of renting the center and editing the newsletter.

"The community center brings neighbors together, gives everyone a sense of community," she said. "Ten years of our lives have been devoted to Lyon Park."

The 300-acre neighborhood, bounded by Arlington Boulevard on two sides, North Irving and North 10th Street, has a population of 4,775, according to the 1990 census, an increase of about 200 from 1980.

Within its borders are a shopping center at Pershing Drive and Arlington Boulevard and a dozen restaurants, including Whitey's, a well-known neighborhood bar that attracts customers from outside the community. Whitey's owners and the neighborhood association had a very public confrontation several years ago, when the residents complained about the noise level of live bands and customers taking neighborhood parking spaces.

The county board, after listening to testimony by Lyon Park officials, ordered the bar to reduce its nights for live entertainment to four. On a nearby block, the county posted restricted parking signs.

Since then, the association has involved itself in other neighborhood issues, including an agreement with a developer of a miniature golf course to limit the hours of the operation and to dedicate part of the property to new houses. The association voted last month to support the adjoining neighborhood of Courtlands in its opposition to a proposed plan of Home Depot to build a store on a vacant Sears site in an adjoining neighborhood.

"I get the impression there is a lot of respect from the county for Lyon Park," Noll said. "People are careful about the decisions and how they approach the government. We recognize that developers have rights. We can't always do something, but sometimes we can mitigate the impact of a project."

The association seems intent on preserving the low-scale, small-town, residential character of Lyon Park. The quiet blocks, away from the busy streets of Pershing Drive and Washington Boulevard, are dotted with a mixture of small, frame bungalows, larger brick colonials and several complexes of three-story brick condominiums.

Lyon Park is particularly known for its Sears houses, the mail-order homes delivered by train and built in the 1920s and 1930s. There are about 30 such houses -- some still in their original condition and others extensively renovated -- that are highly sought-after, said Coldwell Banker real estate agent Lynn Brock.

"Lots of people grew up in them in other parts of the country and they look for them," Brock said. "They are nostalgic and people like the feeling of an older house."

She said one 1920s Sears house that has been greatly expanded and has a hot tub and sauna is on the market for $565,000. However, she said that house represents the upper end of home prices in Lyon Park. The average cost for a house is about $250,000 and two-bedroom condominium units sell for about $115,000.

Brock said 30 houses and four condominiums have sold in Lyon Park in the past 18 months and there are seven on the market now. Several of the recent buyers were from the District, people who wanted to live in Virginia, but stay close enough for an easy commuting to Washington, she said.

Adron Krekeler, a financial consultant who had lived in 10 different places during his 23 years in the Navy, moved to Lyon Park last year after he retired. He said the community center and its active association influenced him to choose to rent in the neighborhood. Krekeler, 41, joined the association, was elected to the board of governors and was one of the organizers of this year's fair. His son, Nathan, 13, was recruited to help run some of the children's games and he came away from the experience with some new friends.

"I feel like I've finally found a community I can call home," Krekeler said.

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