Before National Landing was Crystal City, it was Brick Haven
Excerpt from The Vicinity of Washington by Griffith M. Hopkins.
The part of Arlington between the Pentagon and National Airport has changed names a lot. Before it was Crystal City, it was Brick Haven, so named for its abundant brick factories.
In 2018 when Amazon announced it would locate its new headquarters in National Landing, people familiar with Crystal City scratched their heads and said “that’s not a real place.” But the name Crystal City itself was also an out-of-nowhere developer creation about 60 years earlier. Before that, what was the area called?
The 1894 map
Turn to this fascinating 1894 map titled “The Vicinity of Washington, D.C.,” published by Griffith M. Hopkins of Philadelphia and available via the Library of Congress.
The map covers roughly the area that today is inside the Beltway, and makes for an enthralling look at our region just as its suburban era was kicking off.
The Vicinity of Washington by Griffith M. Hopkins.
Directly north of Brick Haven, near where the Pentagon stands today, you can see the name Jackson City. But that’s not all.
What’s now Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling used to be Giesboro. What’s now the industrial back end of Langdon used to be Montello. What’s now the Belle Haven Country Club south of Alexandria was (at least on the map) a gridded town named New Alexandria. Tenleytown was Tennallytown.
Brick Haven itself
Via Twitter, Braulio Agnese shared this 1903 article about Brick Haven from a magazine called The Clay-Worker, which seems to be a sort of brick-making trade journal. It includes a wealth of photos and descriptions, set to, um, colorful turn-of-the-century writing like “Brickmaking in ole’ Vahginny.”
Says the article’s unnamed author, “There are hundreds of people employed here making brick of all kinds, living in houses built and owned by the brick companies.” The article goes on to describe the brick-making process, and to give examples and images of buildings constructed with Brick Haven brick, including most notably DC’s Willard Hotel.
Take a look, and tell us what stands out as interesting from both the map and article!