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Fairfax County is a county in Northern Virginia, in the United States. As of 2005, the estimated population of the county is 1,041,200; making it by far the most populous county in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and one of the largest in the United States. It is the most populous jurisdiction in the Greater Washington Area, surpassing the population of Washington, D.C. by about 450,000 residents, and Baltimore by 350,000 residents. It has the second highest median household income ($94,610) in the United States, behind its neighbor Loudoun County, Virginia. Fairfax County is also known as the Silicon Valley of the East Coast due to the many high-end jobs that settle within the county. Fairfax county straddles the Capital Beltway.
History
Fairfax County was formed in 1742 from the northern part of Prince William County. It was named for Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1693-1781), proprietor of the Northern Neck. The oldest settlements in Fairfax County were located along the Potomac River. George Washington settled in Fairfax County and built his home, Mount Vernon facing the river. Gunston Hall, the home of George Mason is located nearby. Modern Fort Belvoir is partly located on the estate of Belvoir Manor, built along the Potomac by William Fairfax in 1741. Thomas Sixth Lord Fairfax, the only member of the British nobility ever to reside in the colonies, lived at Belvoir before he moved to the Shenandoah Valley. The Belvoir mansion and several of its outbuildings were destroyed by fire immediately after the Revolutionary War in 1783, and George Washington noted the plantation complex gradually deteriorated into ruins.[1] In 1757, the northwestern two-thirds of Fairfax County became Loudoun County. In 1789 part of Fairfax County was ceded to the federal government to form Alexandria County of the District of Columbia. Alexandria County was returned to Virginia in 1846, reduced in size by the secession of the independent city of Alexandria in 1870, and renamed Arlington County in 1920. The Fairfax County town of Falls Church became an independent city in 1948. The Fairfax County town of Fairfax became an independent city in 1961. Located near Washington, D.C., Fairfax County was an important region in the Civil War. The Battle of Chantilly or Ox Hill, during the same campaign as the second battle of Bull Run, was fought within the county; Bull Run straddles the border between Fairfax and Prince William County. For most of the Civil War, Union troops occupied the county, though the population remained sympathetic to the Confederacy. The growth of the Federal Government in the years during and after World War II spurred rapid growth in the county. As a result, the once rural county began to become increasingly suburban. Other large businesses continued to settle in Fairfax County and the opening of Tysons Corner Center spurred the rise of Tysons Corner itself. The technology boom and a steady government-driven economy also created rapid growth and an increasingly growing and diverse population. The economy has also made Fairfax County one of the wealthiest counties in the nation. Timeline
Population History
Note: 1960 corrected population 262,482 (including Falls Church city, 272,674). See also notes C1, C12, and C13. Research Tips
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