Pillars of the Community
.What are the anchors of a community or neighborhood? Often they are the people, places, groups and landmarks that make a community meaningful to its residents, offer them support, and create a sense of local identity.
Oral histories have documented some inspiring examples of “pillars” that have made a difference to community life in Alexandria. These include:
- Tenants and Workers United, an organization started in Arlandria that advocates for affordable housing and civic rights for immigrants and low-income workers.
- The TWIG, the Junior Auxiliary of INOVA Alexandria Hospital.
- The Elks Lodge #48, a hub of the Parker-Gray Historic District which has served the City’s Black community since 1903.
- Neighborhood restaurants, houses of worship, and other gathering places.
- Residents who are resources for the community and have helped make Alexandria’s neighborhoods safe and thriving places to live.
What people and places make a difference in your community?
Sarah O. Strother, raised in Old Town in the 1940s-50s; interviewed by Paula T. Whitacre, August 19, 2009:
My father…was always mild-mannered. He would sing at nighttime. Comforting, a good dad. He worked for the City. He was really like a father of the block, really. All the teenagers. After he passed, they came by and said, "We sure miss your dad." He talked to all the young people, tried to encourage them.
Donald Taylor, a member of the Elks Lodge #48 since 1950; interviewed by Francesco De Salvatore, September 19, 2022:
[My grandfather] was one of the members that got that lodge started in Alexandria…they were community orientated. That’s the main thing…
We’d help people…some of them were getting ready [to] put out of their home. Some didn’t have food, some in the cold weather. They didn’t have heat. And that basically what we did. And the children like on Easter, we had programs for the children for Easter. We gave out Christmas toys for the children. And we had a thing called for unwed mothers…We’d have clothes. And that sort of thing for people to come in and pick up whatever they wanted.
Beatrice Taylor, born in 1935, resident of Colored Rosemont; interviewed by Francesco De Salvatore, January 25, 2023:
For a number of years until this virus came up, we had a pre-Thanksgiving for seniors. We started out at the Elks [Lodge #48]. It got so large that we had to take it to Robert E. Lee Center [now the Nannie J. Lee Center]. And we had over 300 people. And that was every year. When we started out, we asked the community to help us with food and stuff. And you’d be surprised at the different people that volunteered to help.
Mary Sullivan, Del Ray resident since 1946; interviewed by Mary Baumann, September 6, 2003:
There used to be the firehouse there and that was the entertainment for the City of Potomac. Everything met there at the firehouse upstairs. Even our church, Del Ray Baptist Church at that time, used to have our Sunday School classes over in the firehouse.
Our church at that time used to have oyster dinners for to help raise money for the firehouse. The women of the church would do it.
They had dances, upstairs over the firehouse. And Bingo.
Candace Beane, TWIG member and president; interviewed by MaryAnne Beatty, January 26, 2021:
...there are many, many non-profits in Alexandria supporting the local community, each of them worthwhile and significant in their own right. But I would contend that we are the only one that impacts everybody’s lives....everybody uses that hospital at one time or another. Everybody needs the ER. And I think that we need to support it.
Unalane Ablondi, recalls growing up during the 1940s; interviewed by Jennifer Hembree, June 30, 2007:
I started out as a Girl Scout; then when I was a little older I became Senior Service Scout, and I did volunteer work here in Alexandria…and I did a lot of work up at the hospital…the old Alexandria Hospital...South Washington and Duke – the main entrance was on Duke. I would go up there on Saturdays, and there would be another Girl Scout with me. We would change ice water for the patients, and I became very adept with an ice pick, because they had a freezer with ice in it, and we had to chunk it up, break it up, and put it in the pitchers. And changing flowers for them. If there were any errands to be run, we would do that…I enjoyed working at the hospital. I always wore my Girl Scout uniform.
Rhoda Worku, owner of the Caboose Café in Del Ray; interviewed by Krystyn Moon, May 20, 2015:
My favorite thing is this neighborhood, the kids. I love them. When they come and they call me Miss Rhoda, and get a hug, and it’s eleven in the morning – and I love that part….and they come here after school. They do their homework. Sometimes the parents come and pick them up.
Nora Partlow, born in Cuba, lived in Alexandria since 1985, former owner of St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub in Del Ray; interviewed by Elaine Schwartz, March 25, 2015:
We wanted a place, because this is what I heard from my customers…that’s what our tagline is…A community gathering place. And it has been since day one...It’s just been, I say, the last four or five years, that they say St. Elmo’s is Del Ray’s living room.
Maydell Casey Belk, Fort community resident 1952-1967; interviewed by Patricia Knock and others, June 6, 1994:
We went to church all day on Sundays...10:00...Sunday school, 11:00 church service, then you had a 3:00 church service...Then you had to be at the BYPU (Baptist Young People’s Union) at 7:00 pm...and then our parents would come in at 8:00, and they add singing and preaching, and that was all day every Sunday.
Jonathan “Jon” Liss, advocate for immigrants and low-wage workers, and co-founder of Tenants and Workers United; interviewed by John Reibling, April 14, 2015:
…the good thing was it put this community…meaning Latino new residents of Alexandria…on the political map…to make sure that people in Arlandria lived in safe and sanitary housing, and we were the right organization. We had the connections with the community. In fact we were made up of community members.
…so many folks from the neighborhood stepped up, both allies from local churches, local housing advocates or agencies, local unions, and then of course the people from the neighborhood really ran the campaigns so – and we were able to sustain it…I think we had a lot of grit both me individually but really the entire community…and so we stuck with it for ten years and went from eviction notices to resident ownership.
Rosa Byrd, resident of Lynhaven neighborhood since the 1960s, and community activist; interviewed by Francesco De Salvatore, May 11, 2023:
And our neighborhood [Lynhaven] was fine. We got awards, some people for beautiful yards. And, you know, in that part we [several ladies in her community] were called the Snoop Sisters because we walked up and down the alleys to see that the trash truck didn’t pick up the trash properly. We called…the electric company…when our street lights were out…
There was a business up on the corner of Reed [Avenue] and J.D. Highway [Richmond Highway]. When that company got ready to sell, they put a scholarship in my name at T.C. Williams [Alexandria High School] and it’s the Lynn Haven Rosa Byrd Scholarship…because they were impressed with how we worked and fought for the neighborhood.
Zion Bezu, from Ethiopia, settled in Alexandria in 2005, and is the first African immigrant to become a PTA President in the City of Alexandria; interviewed by Krystyn Moon, July 23, 2015:
Bright Choice for Children right now serves a homework club for John Adams [Elementary School]…we do have one hundred kids who benefit from it…For this year…I am the first immigrant PTA [Parent Teacher Association] president for John Adams…my goals is empower students and [get] their parents engaged…education should be fun. And the parents have to involve their kids’ lives…and then I plan to have English Second Language classes…for parents…so we do the homework lab for the children…And the parents, the same time, they will learn English [as a] Second Language…In that way, we can bring them to the school.