EARLY DAYS

The Williamsburg area was inhabited by Native Americans of the Powhatan chiefdom for hundreds of years until they moved south in the 1600's due to intertribal warfare. In the 1730's European immigrants came to the area as farmers, probably attracted by the plentiful water supply from numerous natural springs. One of these settlers was George Minor, head of a prominent family of large landowners, who gave his name to Minor Hill, the highest point in what is now Arlington County. The area was sparsely inhabited and was occupied by half a dozen heavily wooded farms where tobacco, wheat, corn and oats were grown. The Revolutionary War had little impact on the area, although a French army, marching to reinforce Americans at Yorktown, did pass by and take on water at Minor Hill. During the War of 1812 several settlers from the area participated in the defense of Washington and Baltimore.

THE CIVIL WAR

Union forces occupied the Williamsburg area during most of the Civil War. Minor Hill was a strategic location for observation and signaling, and Federal troops were quartered along its flanks. Some of the first casualties of the war occurred when Union forces dislodged an encampment of Confederates dug in on Minor Hill. The Federals built an observation fort and signal tower on the summit of the hill, and it was also one of the sites where watch fires were used to warn of the approach of Confederate troops. It was this line of signal fires around Washington, DC, which inspired a line in Julia Ward Howe's Battle Hymn of the Republic, "I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps."

THE POST-WAR PERIOD

As a result of extensive damage to the area's property and infrastructure during the Civil War, Williamsburg entered a period of economic decline from which the area did not recover for decades. Residents gradually turned to truck farming as Washington's population increased and the railroads arrived. While prosperity did not result, residents were able to repair and rebuild homes and buildings damaged during the Civil War. Although the influenza epidemic killed 17 people, the area was otherwise unaffected by World War I. The Great Depression once again brought difficult times to Williamsburg. Money was scarce, and even truck farming suffered the effects of the downturn. Area residents regularly donated substantial amounts of vegetables from their gardens and fields to soup kitchens in Alexandria and Washington during these lean years.

WORLD WAR II

Williamsburg was greatly impacted by World War II. Many people in the community worked on wartime activities, and housing became scarce. As many women went to work and household income surged, more money was available for amenities, and more than 150 houses were built in the area. Many of the local roads were paved during World War II, and Arlington County officials began planning for a housing and population boom in Williamsburg, one of the last tracts in Arlington to be developed.

SINCE THE WAR

Large scale housing construction began in Williamsburg soon after V-J Day and within five years transformed the area from open farm land into a community of nearly 600 single-family homes. With this rapid development came the threat of runaway commercial development, and in 1951 the Williamsburg Civic Association was organized to retain "the desirable residential community."

Over the years the civic association was successful in opposing the construction of five gasoline stations on Minor Hill and in the surrounding community. The Association led the campaign to eradicate Japanese beetles, which were a serious problem in the 1950's. In the Sixties, the civic association campaigned to transform the weed-strewn median in the middle of the traffic circle into an attractively landscaped area. In the Seventies the Association was instrumental in having a leaf storage site on Minor Hill removed and persuaded the new Peoples Drug Store to build a brick retaining wall along the boundary of its parking lot. More recently, the civic association supported the effort to landscape the area at the base of Minor Hill, which was planted with many beautiful azaleas and other flowers as a memorial to the late Emily L. Sharp

It has been quite a few years since horses grazed on the north side of 31st Street and families with young children were moving into new homes. The toddlers of 1951 have grown up, married, and in many cases are now raising their own families in the area. Whatever the changes, the Williamsburg Civic Association strives to maintain the neighborhood as a desirable residential area.