 Figure 1. Notes regarding WWI Memorial
Hello! This month’s Found in the Archives is brought to you by Christine, a former intern of the court and George Mason University student. Below Christine discusses one of the documents she utilized to assist the Historic Record Center in creating a new self-guided walking tour of the courthouse grounds.
Stops on the walking tour includes the memorials dedicated to Fairfax County’s fallen soldiers. The correspondence shown below is from the Clerk of the Court F. W. Richardson’s papers. It shows a list of the soldiers who died in World War I who are local to our area. In addition to their name, their hometown and rank are listed. The men are listed first by their race and then (for the most part) alphabetically (Fig. 1)
The World War I Memorial at the Court House shows all the names listed in this document, with a few additional not on the list (Fig. 2). It was gifted by the Daughters of the American Revolution after World War one in 1926. By cross referencing the names on the document and comparing it to the monument, we can see that the men are still grouped by race. White soldiers are listed on the top row and Black soldiers are listed on the bottom.
 Figure 2: WWI Memorial.
This is a contrast to the World War II and Korean War monument, where the same separation of names does not appear to exist on the World War II monument. The names run together in columns and the only row separation is the row for the Korean War. This memorial was also gifted by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1960.
 Figure 3: WWII Memorial
 Figure 4: Memorial Marker
The Marker on the property notes the disparity of the WWI Memorial.
The grounds of Fairfax’s courthouse are home to many hidden stories. By looking at the World War I monument, you may not have known that the row of separation is living evidence of segregation. In our self-guided walking tour, you will learn about the history of the courthouse grounds such as Clem the cat, the Legato school, and other interesting lore. You can pick up a FREE copy of the Self-Guided Walking Tour at Fairfax Circuit Court’s Historic Records Center located inside the historic courthouse.
 Figure 5: Walking Tour Booklets
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