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Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 128,284. It is located on the west bank of the Potomac River, six miles south of downtown Washington, DC. Like the rest of ... more »
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Hotels Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 128,284. It is located on the west bank of the Potomac River, six miles south of downtown Washington, DC.
Like the rest of Northern Virginia, as well as southern Maryland, modern Alexandria has been shaped by its proximity to the nation's capital. It is largely populated by professionals working in the federal civil service, the U.S. military, or for one of the many private companies which contract to provide services to the federal government. The latter are known locally as beltway bandits, after the Capital Beltway, an interstate highway that circles Washington, D.C. One of Alexandria's largest employers is the U.S. Department of Defense. Others include the Institute for Defense Analyses and the Center for Naval Analyses.
Alexandria is home to numerous associations, charities, and non-profit organizations including the national headquarters of groups such as the Salvation Army.
The historic center of Alexandria is known as Old Town. It is a major draw for tourists and those seeking nightlife. Like Old Town, many Alexandria neighborhoods are high-income suburbs of Washington D.C. A 2005 assessed-value study of homes and condominiums found that over 40 percent were in the highest bracket, worth $556,000 or more.
Alexandria landmarks include the George Washington Masonic National Memorial (also known as the Masonic Temple), Gadsby's Tavern, Christ Church, the Little Theatre, the Torpedo Factory art studio complex, Market Square, Robert E. Lee's boyhood home, the John Carlyle House and the Virginia Theological Seminary. In 2005, Alexandria became one of the first cities of its size to offer free wireless internet access to some of its residents and visitors.
Market Square in Old Town was once the site of the second-largest slave market in the United States. Today it contains a large fountain and extensive landscaping, as well as a weekly farmers' market.
Alexandria is bounded on the east by the Potomac River, on the north and northwest by Arlington County, and on the south by Fairfax County. The western portions of the city were annexed from those two entities beginning in the 1930s.
The City of Alexandria, first known as Belhaven, was named in honor of John Alexander, who in the last quarter of the 17th century had bought the land on which the city now stands from Robert Howison; the first settlement here was made in 1695. Alexandria was laid out in 1749 and was incorporated in 1779.
A portion of the City of Alexandria shares with all of today's Arlington County the distinction of having been originally in Virginia, ceded to the U.S. Government to form the District of Columbia, and later retroceded to Virginia by the federal government in 1846, when the District was reduced in size to exclude the portion south of the Potomac River.
From 1790 until 1846, Alexandria County was a part of the District of Columbia; the City of Alexandria was re-chartered in 1852.
The City of Alexandria became independent of Alexandria County in 1870. The remaining portion of Alexandria County changed its name to Arlington County in 1920, ending years of confusion.
In 1930, Alexandria annexed the Town of Potomac. That town, adjacent to Potomac Yard, had been laid out beginning in the late 19th century and incorporated in 1908.
Revolutionary War
In 1755 General Edward Braddock organized his fatal expedition against Fort Duquesne at Alexandria, and here, in April of the same year, the governors of Virginia, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland met to determine upon concerted action against the French in America.
In March 1785, commissioners from Virginia and Maryland met here to discuss the commercial relations of the two states, finishing their business at Mount Vernon on the 28th with an agreement for freedom of trade and freedom of navigation of the Potomac. The Maryland legislature in ratifying this agreement on November 22 proposed a conference among representatives from all the states to consider the adoption of definite commercial regulations. This led to the calling of the Annapolis Convention of 1786, which in turn led to the calling of the Federal Convention of 1787.
In 1790, Alexandria was included in the area chosen by George Washington to become the District of Columbia. During the War of 1812, Alexandria surrendered to a British fleet in 1814 without a fight. As agreed in the terms of surrender the British looted stores and warehouses of mainly flour, tobacco, cotton, wine and sugar.
From 1828 to 1836 Alexandria was home to the Franklin & Armfield Slave Market, one of the largest slave trading companies in the country. By the 1830s, they were sending more than 1,000 slaves annually from Alexandria to their Natchez, Mississippi and New Orleans markets to help meet the demand for slaves in Mississippi and surrounding states. Later owned by Price, Birch & Co. the slave pen became a jail under Union(American Civil War) occupation.
Return to VirginiaOver time, a movement grew to separate Alexandria from the District of Columbia. As competition grew with the port of Georgetown and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal favored the north side of the Potomac, the city's economy stagnated. In addition, many in Alexandria hoped to benefit from land sales and increased business from the federal government, but it had no need for the land south of the river. In addition, its residents had lost representation and the right to vote at any level of government. Alexandria was also an important port and market in the slave trade there was increasing talk of abolition of slavery in the national capital, and the economy would suffer greatly if slavery was outlawed. At the same time, there was an active abolition movement in Virginia, and the state's General Assembly was closely divided on the question of slavery (resulting in the formation of West Virginia eighteen years later by the most anti-slavery counties) and Alexandria and Alexandria County would provide two new pro-slavery representatives. After a referendum, voters petitioned Congress and Virginia to return the area to Virginia. The area was retroceded to Virginia by on July 9, 1846.
American Civil War
At the opening of the American Civil War, the city was occupied by Federal troops until the end of the war, making it the longest held city during the war.
The union Fort Ward, built for the defense of Washington, DC, was located within the boundaries of modern Alexandria.
Great excitement throughout the North was caused by the killing (May 24, 1861) of Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth (1837-1861) by Captain James W. Jackson, a hotel proprietor, from whose building Ellsworth had removed a Confederate flag. After the establishment of the state of West Virginia in 1863, and until the close of the war, Alexandria was the seat of what was known as the "Alexandria Government." Also, buildings at Virginia Theological Seminary and at Episcopal High School served as hospitals for union troops. Bullets, belt clips, and other artifacts from the civil war have been found in the area today.
Roads
Alexandria is bisected north and south by Virginia State Highway 7, known in most of the city as the major thoroughfare of King Street, and in its western portions as Leesburg Pike. Interstate Highway 95/495 (the Capital Beltway), including the Woodrow Wilson Bridge over the Potomac, approximately parallels the city's southern boundary with Fairfax County. Interstate 395 crosses through the western part of the city. Other major routes include U.S. Route 1, named Jefferson Davis Highway and Patrick and Henry Streets (after Patrick Henry), the George Washington Memorial Parkway, and Duke Street (Virginia State Highway 236).
Airports
Alexandria is located just south of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington County. As with other Washington suburbs, Alexandria is also served by Washington Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia, and by Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport near Baltimore, Maryland.
Rail
Alexandria Union Station, the city's historic train station, is served by both Amtrak intercity and Virginia Railway Express regional rail service. The station is directly adjacent to the King Street Metrorail station, at the convergence of the Blue and Yellow Lines. Three other Metrorail stations lie within the city limits: Braddock Road, Van Dorn Street, and Eisenhower Avenue.
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The traditional boundary between Old Town and the latterly annexed sections of the city followed the railway now owned by CSX Transportation.
Buses
The city government operates its own mass transit system, the DASH bus, connecting points of interest with local transit hubs. Metrobus also serves Alexandria.
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