School History: Great Falls Elementary School (1953-1980)

Great Falls Elementary School opened its doors to students for the first time on May 1, 1953. However, at that time, our school went by a different name—Forestville Elementary School. The first principal was Gertrude C. Oliver Winston.

Black and white photograph of the front exterior of Forestville Elementary School taken in 1954. The building is a two-story brick structure with classrooms on both sides of the building separated by central hallways. The main office is located on the first floor near the main entrance. The main entrance, a set of double doors surrounded by windows, is covered by a metal awning. A circular driveway curves in front of the building. In the center of the circle is a grassy area where several trees or tall shrubs have been planted. — Forestville (Great Falls) Elementary School, 1954. The school was built from April 1952 to April 1953 by the Howard-Mitchell Construction Company of Richmond, Virginia, at a cost of $280,012. The building, designed by architect Robert A. Willgoos of Alexandria, Virginia, originally consisted of ten classrooms and a cafetorium.

May Day

For Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) students of the early 20^th century, the May Day holiday was a rite of passage marking the start of spring and the graduation of seventh graders from school. Held annually on May 1, May Day observances consisted of musical performances, a maypole dance, and the crowning of the May Queen.

Black and white photograph of students performing a maypole dance in front of a school. A group of students are walking around the maypole, some clockwise, some counter clockwise. Each is holding a long piece of fabric. As they walk, the students alternate as they pass one another, forming a braid of sorts around a tall wooden pole in the center of the circle. The children are dressed in very nice clothing – the girls in white dresses and the boys in shirts and slacks. Parents and other students are seated off to the side watching the maypole dance. — Maypole dance at Fairfax Elementary School during a May Day observance in the 1950s. Photograph by Quentin Porter. Courtesy of the Virginia Room, Fairfax County Public Library.

The tradition of May Day celebrations continued well into the 1950s and 60s at many schools in FCPS. Because the opening of Forestville Elementary School fell on May Day, a “Spring Festival” was held in lieu of the usual celebration.

At last: the crowning day of the year in the life of the seventh graders!! Only this year it was called “The Spring Festival.” We had waited until May 15, so it could be held in the new school. The stage was set, the flowers arranged, the queen’s throne was decorated! The music was ready to play, and—rain came pattering down. Why couldn’t it have waited just one hour? The stage was transplanted to the stage of the cafetorium. The graceful attendants filed in, followed by the stately queen, Joyce Ann Beach. The president of the SCA, John Anderson, stepped forward and crowned the queen. Then followed the program planned to entertain the queen and her court. The theme of the program was “Virginia.” A large map of Virginia with its cities, rivers, mountains, natural regions, etc., was displayed on one side of the stage. The Glee Club sang “The Flowers That Bloom in the Spring” and “Carry Me Back to Old Virginia.” Parents and friends toured the new building while waiting for lunch to be served.
~ Forestville Elementary School, 7^th Grade Annual, 1952-53

From Forestville to Great Falls

During the late 1950s, a new post office opened in the village of Forestville. Because the name Forestville was already used for a post office elsewhere in Virginia, the new post office was given the name Great Falls. In November 1955, the Forestville Fire Department changed its name to the Great Falls Fire Department and encouraged other community organizations to change their names as well, so that the community would share the same name as its new post office. As early as 1955, people in the community began to refer to Forestville Elementary School as Great Falls Elementary School, but the name wasn’t officially changed by the Fairfax County School Board until May 1960.

Black and white aerial photograph of Great Falls Elementary School taken in 1954. The L-shaped building is seen from directly overhead. The countryside around the school is largely farm fields and forests. There are a few houses scattered on large lots on the west side of Walker Road across from the school. — Forestville (Great Falls) Elementary School, 1954. Photograph courtesy of the Fairfax County Park Authority.

Pink and Black

In January 1925, students of the Forestville School selected blue and gold as the school colors. It’s unclear how long those colors remained in use, but by 1956 the school colors had changed to pink and black.

Photograph of a felt school spirit patch from Forestville Elementary School. The hand-made patch was created during the mid-1950s. It is approximately five inches across and features an oval at the center with wings on the left and right sides of the oval. The wings are made out of black felt and the oval is made out of pink felt. The letters F, E, and S, have been sewn on to the patch. The letter F, cut from pink felt, is sewn onto the left wing. The letter E, cut from black felt, is sewn onto the center of the oval. The letter S, cut from pink felt, is sewn onto the right wing. The letters are held in place with hand-stitched pink thread. — Forestville (Great Falls) Elementary School spirit patch, 1950s.

Cindy Garber Plante, who attended Great Falls during its opening year, once recalled that school lunches cost 25 cents in the mid-1950s.

Lunch consisted of hot, home-cooked meals such as beef stew, spaghetti, ravioli, turkey, vegetable soup, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. On special occasions, we were served desserts like cherry cobbler or apple pie. There were no choices in the lunch line like there are today. Students ate what they were served. There was only one male teacher at that time. His name was Nolan Arritt and years later he became a school principal. Mrs. Margaret Marshall taught seventh grade for many years. Mrs. Marshall would sit on the kids that misbehaved, usually the boys, and she was a big woman. All the kids loved her and we learned a lot.
~Cindy Garber Plante

The First Addition

On May 3, 1955, the School Board awarded the contract for the construction of a two-classroom addition to Forestville Elementary School to E. H. Glover, Inc., at a cost of $50,380. The addition was completed in time for the opening of schools in September 1955. During the 1955-56 school year, there were eleven teachers (Beulah Anderson, Nolan Arritt, Ruth Cornfield, Alma Fisher, Eliza Gardner, Martha Getchell, Wrenn Gilkeson, Laura Hunt, Margaret Marshall, Mary Money, and Mary Rust) and one part-time librarian (Evelyn Norment). In addition to her duties as principal, Gertrude Winston also taught one of the upper grade classrooms. Teacher salaries at that time ranged between $3,400 and $5,300 annually depending upon level of certification and years of experience. Principal Winston’s salary was $5,700 annually.

Black and white photograph of Great Falls Elementary School taken in 1956. The student body is standing outside the school on the field behind the building. The students are all wearing coats, but some of the trees in the distance still have leaves so it could be a crisp fall day. Several adults can be seen walking among the students and watching from a distance. It is unclear what the students are doing. It may be a fire drill or something similar because some of children appear to be lined up in rows. — Forestville (Great Falls) Elementary School, 1956.

The 1960s - A Decade of Change

In the late 1950s, seventh graders who graduated from Forestville Elementary School moved on to Herndon High School where they would complete grades 8-12. From 1958-60, FCPS tested a pilot intermediate school program in what is now Parklawn Elementary School. The pilot proved so successful that in September 1960, FCPS opened eight intermediate schools (Bryant, Irving, Lanier, Longfellow, Poe, Thoreau, Twain, and Whittier). An intermediate school opened in Herndon the following year, followed by Cooper Intermediate School in September 1962. The establishment of intermediate schools had a significant impact on the newly renamed Great Falls Elementary School, limiting the student body to children in grades 1-6.

Photograph sheet from the 1962 to 1963 school year showing Mr. Clark’s sixth grade class. The sheet consists of individual head-and-shoulders portraits of students arranged in rows similar to a yearbook page. The photographs are all in black and white. There are no printed names for the students, so someone has gone in with a blue ink pen and written the names of the children and teacher below their portraits. 25 children, the teacher, and the principal are pictured. — Mr. Clark’s 6th grade class, 1962-63. The man in the top left corner is Principal Merlin Gil Meadows (1960-63).

While FCPS was in the midst of establishing its intermediate schools, another, even more significant change to the school system was unfolding; one that profoundly transformed the entire school division.

Integration

The Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Brown v. Board of Education to desegregate public schools was handed down in 1954, but by the early 1960s change had yet to come to many of Virginia’s public schools. Many state legislators were actively seeking ways to prevent integration, and, because of these resistance efforts, it wasn’t until the 1960-61 school year that FCPS was able to begin desegregating its public schools. The first two schools to integrate were Belvedere and Cedar Lane elementary schools in September 1960. It wasn’t until the end of the 1965-66 school year that all public schools in Fairfax County achieved full racial integration. During the intervening years, African-American children wishing to enroll in formerly all-white schools had to request approval from the Fairfax County School Board.

Detail of a photograph sheet from the 1965 to 1966 school year showing an unspecified third grade class. The sheet consists of individual head-and-shoulders portraits of students arranged in rows similar to a yearbook page. The photographs are all in black and white. There are no printed names for the students. 11 children and one female teacher are shown. Two of the children are African-American; the others are Caucasian. — Great Falls Elementary School, 3rd grade class, 1965-66. Racial integration of the public schools in Fairfax County was completed at the start of the 1965-66 school year. There were few African-American children living in the Great Falls attendance area at that time, so there were only seven African-American enrolled at Great Falls that year.

Prior to integration, Great Falls Elementary School had served only white children from the surrounding community. African-American children living in the vicinity of Great Falls were bused to either Oak Grove Elementary School in Herndon or Louise Archer Elementary School in Vienna. It is unclear when the first African-American children enrolled at Great Falls, but one surviving record indicates Reginald Coates and Ronald Coates were permitted to transfer to Great Falls from Louise Archer at the start of the 1964-65 school year.

Kindergarten

During the 1967-68 school year, FCPS piloted a kindergarten program at seven elementary schools. The pilot proved so successful that kindergarten classes were added in every elementary school the following year. Great Falls Elementary School was not one of the pilot sites listed in FCPS documentation, however there is evidence of kindergarten being offered at Great Falls as early as 1965-66.

Growing Pains

In addition to the introduction of kindergarten, racial integration, and the loss of the seventh grade, Great Falls students of the 1960s also experienced two school construction projects. In 1965, a six-classroom addition was constructed to the left of the main entrance. It is the single-story wing of the building pictured below, on the left side of the photograph.

Black and white photograph of the front exterior of the new Forestville Elementary School taken circa 1969. The original section of the building is a two-story brick structure with classrooms on both sides of the building separated by central hallways. The main office is located on the first floor near the main entrance. The main entrance, a set of double doors surrounded by windows, is covered by a metal awning. A single-story addition has been constructed to the left of the main entrance. The circular driveway has been removed and the area is now a parking lot. — Great Falls Elementary School, circa 1968. The addition, built by the Biero Construction Company at a cost of $148,000, increased the capacity of the building by approximately 150 students.

Black and white aerial photograph of Great Falls Elementary School taken in 1968. The building is seen from directly overhead. The countryside around the school is largely farm fields and forests. There are a few houses scattered on large lots on the west side of Walker Road across from the school. The photograph is an animated gif image with colored circles that appear over portions of the image. A blue circle highlights a two-story, two-classroom addition that was constructed in 1955. A red circle shows the six-classroom addition that was constructed on the north side of the building near the main entrance. A yellow circle highlights an old schoolhouse across Walker Road from Great Falls Elementary. Called the Forestville Colored School, you can learn more about this old schoolhouse on the 1870 to 1922 school history page. — Great Falls Elementary School, 1968. The 1955 two-classroom addition is circled in blue. The 1965 addition is circled in red, and the old Forestville “Colored” School is highlighted in yellow. Learn more about this old one-room school house on the 1870-1922 School History page.

A third addition to Great Falls Elementary School was built in 1969. On February 6, 1969, the School Board awarded the contract for an addition and modernization project at Great Falls to E. H. Glover, Inc., at a cost of $587,300. The project was scheduled for completion in January 1970, but the contractor believed it could be completed as early as November 1969.

Color aerial photograph of Great Falls Elementary School taken in 1976. The building is seen from directly overhead. The countryside around the school still has some farm fields and forests, but many of the large lots have been subdivided and new homes have been built. The building, originally shaped like the letter L, more closely resembles the letter C in shape now. The new addition has almost doubled the size of the original building. The brick walls and rooftop of the addition are a different color from that of the original building. The roof of the new wing is light beige, the older roof is dark grey in color. — Great Falls Elementary School, 1976. The 1969 addition, constructed on the southeast side of the building, added a gymnasium, music room, science lab, kindergarten classrooms, and a small “open classroom” pod resource area. Photograph courtesy of the Fairfax County Park Authority.

Fun Fact

Did you know that Great Falls Elementary School housed a pre-school program as early as the 1970-71 school year?

Picture of a class photograph sheet from the 1970 to 1971 school year showing an unspecified pre-school class. The sheet consists of individual head-and-shoulders portraits of students arranged in rows similar to a yearbook page. The photographs are in color. There are no printed names for the students. 11 children and one adult are shown. — Great Falls Elementary School pre-school class, 1970-71. The man in the top right corner is Principal Littell G. “Skip” McClung (1963-77).

The 1970s

Throughout the 1970s, enrollment at Great Falls Elementary School steadily increased. Continued growth of the new Reston community created overcrowding at the few existing schools in northwestern Fairfax County. During the 1972-73 school year, there were only three elementary schools in Reston, so approximately 200 students from the future Dogwood Elementary School attendance area were bused to Great Falls.

Color photograph from the 1977 to 1978 school year showing Mrs. Dauchess’ sixth grade class. 26 children and their teacher are pictured. The children are arranged in four rows along the wall in the gymnasium. Mrs. Dauchess is standing in the back row on the far right. — Great Falls Elementary School, Mrs. Dauchess’ 6th grade class portrait, 1977-78. From 1975 to 1977, enrollment at Great Falls swelled from 608 to 831 students.

The school was a true community center. On weekends kids flooded the playground and the gym which was usually left open. The pancake breakfast and spaghetti dinners were huge favorites and something that I truly miss. Mr. McClung, the principal, began them as a way to raise money for the school and they became a ritual that we all anticipated. On many a Friday night you could find students enjoying a movie at the school. This was probably the biggest student social event at the time. Devoted moms ran the cafeteria and made homemade meals for years.
~ Colleen Sheehy Orme

Color photograph from the 1977 to 1978 school year showing Mrs. Ledford’s kindergarten class. 23 children and two adults are pictured. The children are arranged in four rows along the wall in the gymnasium. Two female teachers stand in the back row, one on the right and one on the left. — Great Falls Elementary School, Mrs. Ledford’s afternoon kindergarten class portrait, 1977-78.

From 1977 to 1979, enrollment at Great Falls grew steadily from 831 to 886 students, well above the school’s 723 pupil capacity. The overcrowding led to the opening of a new school on Utterback Store Road in January 1981—Forestville Elementary School.

Color photograph from the 1979 to 1980 school year showing Mrs. Gaul’s fifth grade class. 28 children and their teacher are pictured. The children are arranged in four rows on the lawn in front of the school’s main entrance. Mrs. Gaul is standing in the back row on the far right. — Great Falls Elementary School, Mrs. Gaul’s 5th grade class portrait, 1979-80.