HISTORY OF DEL RAY, ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA
Charles Edric Wood was the youngest child of William and Asenath Wood of Lebanon, Ohio. Born in 1851, he established himself as a local merchant after completing school. When his older sister Mary passed away in 1884 followed by her husband, Lt. William Reatus Harmon (10th Cavalry), in 1886, their children turned to Charles for work to support themselves. William Elmer Harmon left medical school in Louisville, Kentucky to help support his 19 year old brother Clifford Burke Harmon. Charles noticed that young William was a particularly adept salesman. When William developed a scheme to sell real estate, Charles decided to provide the financial backing, and the three of them formed Wood, Harmon & Company.
William recognized a growing trend in America. Well to do families wanted to move away from the filth and crowds of the city and live in homes comfortably spread apart with a small yard or garden. William believed it would be profitable to buy a large tract of land just outside of a major city and divide it up into individual lots for single family homes. With Charles' backing, William purchased their first tract of land in 1887, and they developed the subdivision of Branch Hill next to the rail lines northeast of Cincinnati. Their business plan proved wildly successful, and they expanded to other parts of Cincinnati and Dayton. Eventually, their business grew to one of the biggest real estate companies in the world, with multiple subdivisions in 31 different cities.
William eventually settled in New York where he used his accumulated wealth to establish the Harmon Foundation. The Harmon Foundation was noted for supporting African-American artists. William may have gained an appreciation of African-American art from his father's service with the 10th Cavalry Regiment, one of the Army's African-American regiments. Upon his death, press reports identified him as the mysterious benefactor of numerous charities to which he had made lavish donations in the name of his great-grandfather Jedediah Tingle. Clifford used his wealth to become an aviation pioneer and promoter. He established the International League of Aviators and the Harmon Trophy, which still exists to this day.
Following the model which had been so successful since 1887, Charles E. Wood moved to Washington, D.C., in 1893, and bought tracts of land just outside of Washington and Alexandria. The former he subdivided into the community of Woodmont, which became available for sale in October 1894. Woodmont is today a part of Bethesda located just off Wisconsin Ave. The latter he subdivided into the communities of Del Ray and St. Elmo, which went on sale May 5th, 1894. After succeeding with these communities, Charles bought more land in Virginia and created the subdivision of Clarendon in 1900. Charles permanently resettled to Washington, D.C. and became involved in a variety of business ventures, included a highly publicized 1906 plan to build the new luxury Randolph Hotel across the street from the Willard Hotel. Although this plan never materialized, Charles continued to be a successful businessman, serving on the board of directors for several companies and financial institutions such as the Emerson Steam Pump Company, the Washington Exchange Bank and the Unites States Trust Company. Charles and his wife Eurnie lived comfortably at 2031 Florida Ave, NW until his death on February 17th, 1908.
When Charles E. Wood chose Washington as the next city for his real estate activities, he needed a location reasonably close to transportation; yet, still rural in character. The farms north of Alexandria afforded an excellent opportunity because the transportation lines between Washington and Alexandria crisscrossed this land. In 1894, he purchased two large tracts of land north of Alexandria just off the road and rail lines to Washington. Between these two tracts was the popular St. Asaph racetrack and the Washington & Old Dominion rail line from Alexandria to the Shenandoah. There were also plans to build an electric railway and a roadway between Washington and Mt. Vernon that would pass through this area. Mass transportation was abundantly available in this rural section of Arlington County.
Wood had purchased one tract of 38.68 acres from Frank and Emma Hume that lay between the racetrack and Glebe Road. Mary Lee, the eldest daughter of the late Richard Lloyd, sold Wood a portion of her father's Belmont estate, which consisted of 254 acres that lay just south of the St. Asaph Racetrack. Wood paid a total of $54,216 for the two tracts of land. Wood named the latter tract Del Ray and hired D. J. Howell to survey it into 1160 lots. Standard lots measured 25 feet wide and 115 feet deep. The other tract of land was named St. Elmo, and L. H. Hyer surveyed it into 491 lots. Here, standard lots were 25 feet wide and 120 feet deep. Streets were laid out in a grid pattern within the irregular boundaries of the tracts. Wood expected to triple his original investment by selling the lots for between $50 and $150.
St. Elmo was completed first, and Wood began advertising it in late March 1894. On April 2nd, he began selling lots for between $50 and $150. In order to entice people to quickly establish the community, he offered to refund the cost of the lot and pay for a one year rail pass to anyone building and residing in a house costing over $1,000 by November 1st. Wood also set covenants for the new community. Deeds required that the purchaser,
“not at any time before the first day of January A.D. nineteen hundred and two, erect or build or cause or permit to be erected or built upon the hereby granted lot of ground, or any part thereof, any tavern, drinking-saloon, tannery, slaughter-house, skin-dressing establishment, glue, soap, candle or starch manufactory or other building for offensive purpose or occupation, nor shall any building thereon erected be converted before said first day of January nineteen hundred and two into a tavern, drinking-saloon, tannery, slaughter house, skin-dressing establishment, glue, soap, candle or starch manufactory or used for any offensive purpose or occupation.
That no part of any building shall be erected nearer to the avenue or street front than fifteen (15) feet, and that no barn, stable, coop or other outbuilding shall likewise be erected nearer to the avenue or street front than seventy (70) feet; that no dwelling-house costing less than eight hundred ($800) dollars shall be built upon said premises before the first day of January A.D. nineteen hundred and two.”
The first lot in St. Elmo was sold to Mr. Charles Thompson on April 13th,1894. Thompson was an investor from Washington, and he never built the house required to obtain the incentives offered by Wood. Like many early purchasers, he was speculating that the land would increase in value. The following month, Jefferson and Emma Ashford purchased lots 255 and 256 to construct their new home, the first in St. Elmo, which is was at 301 Clifford Ave. This house was described as a Folk Victorian and was designated a contributory structure to the Town of Potomac National Historical District (Potomac NHD). Unfortunately, it was torn down in 2015. In March 1896, Ashford purchased two more lots next to his home, but these eventually reverted to the town to create Turner Rd.
Wood began selling lots in Del Ray one month later on May 5th. Del Ray immediately proved more successful. By the end of the month, Wood had made three sales. Marion Anderson purchased lot 672 on Lloyd Ave (today Custis Ave.), but like Thompson, he was also speculating with no apparent intention of building for himself. Andrew and Mattie Grady snatched up three lots on Windsor Ave, but they were never able to afford to put a house on the land. In 1900, they were still renting a house in St. Elmo. Finally, George and Martha Mundell purchased lot 289 and constructed the house at 208 E. Howell Ave. It is also a contributory structure to the Potomac NHD, which listed it as a c. 1895 Vernacular house. The Mundells purchased a second lot on the east side of their house, which probably facilitated expanding the original house.
The lots in this development did not sell as quickly as planned, and by 1897, there were only 37 homes between the two communities: 26 in Del Ray and 11 in St. Elmo. According to the 1897 tax records, the largest and most valuable house in Del Ray was the house at 311 E. Howell Ave. George and Ellie French purchased lots 158-161 in June 1895. Ellie's father was the president of the Bank of Alexandria, so they were able to build the largest home in the community, which was assessed at $1,000 in 1897. By contrast, legend has it that Wood traded two lots for photographic services from Sydney J. Hare. In April 1896, Sydney and Maria Hare purchased two more lots, but they could only afford to put a modest, little house on the property. Their house, which was assessed at only $300 in 1897, still stands at 216 Oxford Ave, though it has been greatly expanded. In St. Elmo, the most expensive house was at 308 Hume Ave., which was assessed at $1,000 in 1897. The property was originally purchased by Mr. Sherman in June 1894, but the Columbia Building and Loan Association foreclosed on the mortgage and owned the property in 1897. Unfortunately, this house no longer exists.
By November 1st when the incentives ran out, Wood has sold a total of 20 lots in St. Elmo to 11 people and 45 lots in Del Ray to 27 people. Not all of these qualified for the incentives though. Two years later, only 25 of these properties, many of which were double lots, had homes on them, and not all of them were owner occupied. Sales tapered off sharply after November 1894. Wood only sold only 23 lots over the next year. However, when the electric railroad was extended from Alexandria to Washington, it passed along the western edge of Del Ray. In anticipation of its new service to that area, sales jumped dramatically. Wood sold 41 lots from February through April 1896. In the first two years of Del Ray and St. Elmo, Wood had only sold 145 lots out of a total of 1651; yet, the advent of the Washington, Alexandria & Mt. Vernon Electric Railroad brought steady but slow growth to the communities.
Wood sought to encourage the growth of the community. He donated lots for the first Del Ray Methodist Church at the corner of Windsor Ave. and Clyde St. in 1894 Four years later, his company donated lots for the Del Ray Baptist Church on Del Ray Ave. Schools were also an important aspect of any community. In 1899, community leaders Joseph Supplee and William Garret led efforts to purchased five lots on Mt. Vernon Ave for a new school building. The Mt. Vernon School was built in 1900. This school building was expanded several times and served the community until it was torn down in the mid 1960s.
Between 1897 and 1904, the two communities combined added on average one house per year. However, 1904 saw a dramatic change. The railroads had outgrown the old rail yard on the south side of Alexandria, and they decided to build a large combined rail yard north of the city. Called Potomac Yard, it stretched from the northern edge of the City of Alexandria all the way up to St. Elmo, and the main entrance was positioned across the Alexandria Washington Turnpike from St. Elmo. Many of the homes at St. Asaph Junction were purchased by the railroads to create the new yard. Some of the former residents of St. Asaph Junction turned to Del Ray for new homes. The employees of the massive new rail yard looked to St. Elmo for their new homes because of the convenient walk to work. A total of 14 new homes were added to the communities by 1907.
Despite the growth, Del Ray and St. Elmo remained largely rural communities with few services. The sharp growth after 1904 brought an increased demand for urban utilities, but the costs seemed prohibitive. In order to increase their negotiating power and provide for public services, the citizens decided to incorporate into a Town. The Citizen's Improvement Association called a meeting in May 1907, to discuss the possibility of incorporating Del Ray, St. Elmo and the nearby community of Braddock Heights into a township. A committee was formed consisting of Walter U. Varney, Jefferson D. Ashford and Robert Elliott to draft a charter and petition the Virginia General Assembly.
The City of Alexandria vehemently opposed this plan. Alexandria was already considering annexing the southern portion of Arlington County. Newspaper articles called on the city council to act swiftly so that the incorporation of Del Ray and St. Elmo would not block Alexandria's future annexation plans. Despite Alexandria's efforts, the citizens of Del Ray and St. Elmo successfully petitioned the Virginia General Assembly to incorporate into the Town of Potomac. The charter was granted on March 13th, 1908, naming Joseph A. Supplee as acting mayor. His interim town government included George W. Zachary as Clerk, Richard H. Roberts as Sergeant, Walter U. Varney as Treasurer, and six councilmen: William Kidwell, Charles A. Campbell, Hugh H. Powell, T. T. Emmerson, J. V. Barrett and John A. Carpenter.