The Arlington Historical Society website now features the first-ever interactive “Storymap” showcasing photos of how Arlington looked in 1920, the year a state law changed its name from Alexandria County to Arlington.
Coordinated by local columnist and history enthusiast Charlie Clark and numerous volunteers, the Storymap shows homes, schools, churches, government buildings, stores and transportation infrastructure that Arlingtonians would have seen along local streets in 1920.
The Storymap uses the software created by Esri of Redlands, Calif., to present vintage and modern photographs in a format that allows the user to adjust sizes and zoom in on locations. “The map allows you to envision the scenes in their exact locations,” said AHS member Clark, who writes the “Our Man in Arlington” column for the weekly Falls Church News-Press. “And we went out of our way to include homes of all income levels in all neighborhoods, not just the storied and fancier ones.”
The Storymap was designed by Arlington-based Blue Raster LLC. Click here for a look at what our forebears would have seen in Arlington in 1920: https://arlingtonhistoricalsociety.org/images-of-arlington-county-1920/
The project is part of a broader county effort that will unfold over the next year to commemorate the name change by revisiting Arlington’s rich history. It will feature museum exhibits, free public lectures on a variety of Arlington-related history topics, and more.