Burke Volunteer Fire Department, circa 1950

Burke Volunteer Fire Department fire truck and firemen working to put out a fire, circa 1950.

Courtesy Tom Giska, History of Burke Slide Collection

Map: Fairfax County Tornado, 1973

A newspaper clipping shows the path of the tornado that occurred in Fairfax County on April 1, 1973, April Fools Day.

Courtesy Safety and Security Office, Fairfax County Public Schools

Railroad Station, Springfield, Virginia, circa 1962

Community residents remember going to the Springfield train station to pick up mail. In the early days, farms surrounded the station. People often stocked up on eggs, corn, and fresh produce during the mail run.

Courtesy Tawny Hammond

Automobile Bridge over Railroad Tracks at Rolling Road

Long-time residents recall the one-lane bridge over the railroad tracks on Rolling Road as a place avoided by school buses and where cars stopped and drivers took turns crossing.

Photograph from Fairfax County Public Library, Virginia Room, Photographic Archive

Bridge Over Railroad Tracks at Ox Road

This steel truss automobile bridge carried Ox Road over the railroad tracks near Fairfax Station. On June 4, 1944, the bridge collapsed while an Army truck from Ft. Belvoir was crossing the span, killing Pvt. Robert V. Hamilton of Stanley, Kentucky. Thirteen other soldiers were injured in the accident. The first picture shows the collapsed bridge and truck on the railroad tracks. The pre-collapse picture was taken circa 1930.

Photographs from Fairfax County Public Library, Virginia Room, Photographic Archive

Burke Station

A new railroad station was built in Burke in 1903, when the railroad tracks were relocated northward several hundred feet to their present location. This building in the photo no longer exists.

Courtesy Tom Giska, History of Burke Slide Collection

Burke Station, Artist's Rendition

This sketch shows the construction and uses of the original Burke railroad station. The Burke Post Office was housed in one end of the station.

Courtesy Bill Sheads

Farm, Fairfax County, circa 1910

Fairfax County farmer harvesting a wheat field, circa 1910.

Photograph from Fairfax County Public Library, Virginia Room, Photographic Archive

Sawmill, Fairfax County, circa 1920

Portable sawmill is shown operating in Fairfax County, circa 1920. Many acres in the county were devoted to forestry and lumbering. Companies milled wood for furniture companies, fence rails and posts, and pilings for road construction.

Photograph from Fairfax County Public Library, Virginia Room, Photographic Archive

Dairy Farm, Fairfax County, circa 1940

The image of cows grazing in a Fairfax County field was a familiar site in the mid-twentieth century in Braddock District. In 1936, dairy farming was the county's largest industry with 100 dairy farms and 440 families engaged in farming.

Photograph from Fairfax County Public Library, Virginia Room, Photographic Archive