Lyon Park residents, and those just passing through, can now learn a little more about the history of the community.
Three new historic markers celebrating the neighborhood were formally dedicated during a wintry event held Feb. 12.
The project was funded through the county government’s Historic Preservation Fund, and had the support of the Lyon Park Citizens Association and the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board.
Elizabeth Sheehy, who helped develop and coordinate the effort with Thora Colot and Toby McIntosh, said the signage will be a way to bring people together.
“As Arlington grows, it can be more difficult to connect with our neighbors,” she told ARLnow. “The Historic Preservation Fund supports Arlingtonians connecting through historic preservation, visual interpretive markers and storytelling. Really, it’s community preservation as much as anything.”
The markers note the history of the Lyon Park neighborhood, stories related to the Lyon Park Community Center and information about parkland, trees and native plants.
The grant also funds a display case for the community center, which is set to celebrate its centennial. It supports the digitization of historic documents related to Lyon Park, which will be posted online.
Sheehy said events to mark the community center’s 100th birthday are in the works, as is next year’s salute to the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Located in central Arlington, the Lyon Park community sprang to life in 1919. Originally marketed as “Moore’s Addition to Clarendon” in honor of developer Robert Moore, the name soon changed to Lyon Park.
The name, like that of Lyon Village farther north, pays tribute to Moore’s business associate, pioneering Arlington civic leader and developer Frank Lyon.
The initial price for Lyon Village building lots ranged from $300 to $350. Home to about 5,000 people, the community celebrated its centennial with events in 2019.
While the neighborhood’s history goes back a little more than a century, the history of the land can be traced much further back.
The area once was the domain of Native Americans including the Necostin, or Nacotchtanck, tribe. This group had met Capt. John Smith and those who sailed with him up the Potomac to modern-day Arlington in 1608.
The tribe also was known as the Anacostins, giving their name to both a river and part of the District of Columbia.
By the mid-1730s, English settler James Robertson owned today’s Lyon Park. It would pass from hand to hand for nearly two centuries before being acquired and subdivided by Lyon and Moore.
