As part of the 125th Anniversary of Fairfax County in 2017, Historic Vienna, Inc. President Anne Stuntz tells the story of how Vienna came to be.
Other interesting facts and videos:
WETA’s “If You Lived Here” series
Vienna’s Railroad Legacy Lives On
The railroad first came to Vienna in the mid 19th century and was the main source of transportation until World War II. Today the Northern Virginia Model Railroaders carry on Vienna’s rail legacy from their headquarters at the historic Washington & Old Dominion Railroad train depot in the middle of town.
Vienna Celebrates Zip Code Day on 2/21/80
Part of our pop-culture mythology is that everyone loves a parade. They offer feelings of cohesiveness plus the notion that ‘I am part of something bigger’ restores a sense of self-awareness. Parades, particularly in small suburban communities, bolster a sense of belonging.
It was some time before February 1980 that a Fairfax County resident got the idea to have a parade in Vienna to celebrate the fact that its zip code – 22180 – was also written as the date 2/21/80 which, at the time, was a date in the not-too-distant future.
According to the Washington Post article written by Denis Collins on Feb. 28, 1980, “The parade wasn’t quite as grand as imagined. Instead of an army of trombones and tubas leading floats down Main Street, there was one high school band in front of a short stretch of politicians, postal service jeeps and quarterback Joe Theismann. But if the parade to honor Zip Code Day in Vienna was a bit short on pomp, it couldn’t have been more dependent on circumstance.”
