History of Fairfax County - Essay Example

?The historical account of Fairfax County, Virginia started with the founding of Fort Belvoir. Belvoir was the term given by Colonel Fairfax which means beautiful to see. The history of Fort Belvoir had begun when this 8 000-acre land was provided by a 17th-century English king, Charles II to the Culpepper family as part of a grant. Dogue Indians were the first inhabitants of the land, which was formerly known as Northern Neck. It was situated along the Potomac River and lies near Mount Vernon. It was in 1734 when Colonel William Fairfax went to Virginia in response to his cousin’s invitation, then Lord Thomas Fairfax VI, to manage and supervise their family’s estate. Seven years later, Colonel Fairfax constructed a mansion situated on a high slope of land overlooking the river of Potomac in which he subsequently named Belvoir. At 16 years of age, George Washington stayed in Mount Vernon with his elder half brother and he became friends with George William Fairfax, the Colonel’s eldest son. He was a constant guest at the mansion in which the manor was developed and changed by George William and his wife Sally Cary into a center of culture and aristocratic elegance. Sixteen years after his father died in 1757, George William Fairfax and his wife rented out the manor as they went back home to England. The manor was rented for a decade where most part was destructed due to the War in 1812. The conflict continued and in 1814 the mansion was further destroyed by British cannons. In 1840, the Belvoir peninsula was bought by Philip Otterback family and made fisheries out of the Potomac River. In 1910, 1 500 acres of the land was sold to District of Columbia where it was intended to be converted to a prison. The local citizens opposed to the project and for this reason, in 1912, the land was transferred to the war Department. In 1915, the land was named Camp Belvoir where engineer troops from Fort McNair, formerly called as Washington Barracks, conduct their trainings and became their rifle range. In 1917, the old name was changed to Camp A. A. Humphreys as a training camp for engineer troops for Word War I. The name was again changed to Fort Humphreys in 1922 and in 1935, post colonial era, it was permanently re-designated as Fort Belvoir. In 1938, the US government begins preparing for the possibility of being involved in enlarging world conflicts, at which time was the outbreak of World War II. In 1940, there was a massive influx of military trainees which prompted the government to purchase an additional 3 000 acres of land located north of U.S. Route 1. One training scheme is composed of an obstacle course which is a simulation of the field condition. With the war receding in 1945, activities of the Replacement Training Center and the Engineer Officer Candidate School were aborted and were not reactivated until 1950 with the Korean Conflict and in 1960 with Vietnam build up. During those times, distinguishable transformations in the manner of training programs were determined. From training, technology through research and development was incorporated in warfare. The transformation consisted of establishment of chemical/biological/radiological school on the North Post while a close combat range was formed south of the village of Accotink. The laboratories formulated and trialled new techniques for electrical power generation, camouflage and deception, methods of handling materials and fuel, bridging, and mine detection. Other experimentations also included portable map copying machines, fungicides for use in tropical environments, and heavy earth-moving equipment. One breakthrough in the field of research and development is the construction of SM-1 (Stationary, Medium Power, and First Prototype) Nuclear Plant. This was intended to provide commercial electricity and decrease the Department of Defense’s dependency on fossil fuels. The SM-1 Plant was first used on 1957 and its operations lasted for 16 years. For 30 years, from 1950 to 1980, the expansion of Fort Belvoir was witnessed. The post became host to various committees and departments which are the DeWitt Hospital, Defense Systems Management College (DSMC), and Defense Mapping School (DMS). Fort Belvoir became the center for training officers and soldiers, which summed up to more than 700 000 until 1988 where the control to Army’s Engineer School was moved to the Military District of Washington from the US Army Training and Doctrine Command. Due to the enlarging population in the military, Belvoir became cramped for them thus the relocation to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. Even with the move of the school, the 76 years of catering of Fort Belvoir to the needs of the military forces was not totally phased out. While currently Belvoir can be viewed as a small city, it still provides for over 120 tenants from the armed forces. It also furnishes logistic and administrative support with own ordinances, land use plan, building codes, utilities, public parks, and academic institutions. In addition, Fort Belvoir supplies to two Army major command headquarters, 10 different Army major commands, 19 different agencies of the Department of Army, eight elements of the U.S. Army Reserve and the Army National Guard, and 26 Department of Defense agencies including U.S. navy construction battalion, a Marine Corps detachment, a U.S. Air Force activity, and an agency from the Department of the Treasury. In 2005, Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) law was passed which stated that Fort Belvoir is projected to acquire a work force net gain consisting of military and civilian employees which is approximated to reach up to 19 300, considered to be the biggest net gain of any Department of Defense installation. The estimated cost of BRAC Fort Belvoir in building new establishments, and refurbishing facilities and infrastructures is adding up to a total of four billion dollars. Currently, Fort Belvoir is inhabited by 135 different organizations and more than 30 000 individuals which would subsequently grow into 160 organizations and 48,000 personnel with the virtue of Base Realignment and Closure law. History of DeWitt Army Community Hospital In 1957, a second hospital, worth 4.5 million dollars, was established by the Army after the Korean War. The DeWitt Army Community Hospital was named after Brigadier General Wallace DeWitt, Sr. MC, USA from 1878 and died in 1949. He was a surgeon who served during World War I and World War II. It is the only military inpatient hospital located in northern Virginia. Its feature includes a 46-bed capacity and was accredited by JACHO. The DeWitt Army Community Hospital provides most of the services found in a military hospital. The two outstanding services provided by the facility are the Warrior Transition Unit and Family Clinic. It is considered as the center of the DeWitt Health Care Network, which is composed of the Family Health Centers of Woodbridge and Fairfax. Later in 1996, another member, Walter Reed Health Care System was linked to the group. Annual patient accommodation of the DeWitt Army Community Hospital is 150 000, caters to more than 1 500 inpatient admissions, and more or less 1 000 deliveries. From the time that the hospital was established, it had attended to almost 68,000 newborn deliveries. It was planned several years ago that Walter Reed Medical Center situated in Washington, D.C. will be the one to admit inpatient care and cut down services of the DeWitt Army Community Hospital to an outpatient facility. However, with the Base Realignment and Closure law of 2005, the plan was resolved to closure of the Walter Reed Medical Center and expansion of the DeWitt Army Community Hospital. The enlargement was put into action when an additional 1.2 million-square-foot of land located on the former south post golf course was converted for new construction of a hospital building. The 120-bed capacity is expected to operate in the spring of 2011. The new hospital, Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, is a 21st century; multi-building facility is anticipated to provide the latest technology in medicine. The facility is designed to accommodate four ambulatory clinical centers, seven-story inpatient tower and two parking garages. It will also feature family-centered medical homes, single patient rooms, intensive care unit, state-of-the-art operating rooms, cancer care center, center for the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders, and a full range of primary care, medical and surgical subspecialties. A groundbreaking ceremony was done in 2001 where it highlighted the founding of time capsule which was buried at the site of the new Fort Belvoir Community Hospital and will be opened after five decades, in the year 2057. Administration and staff members of the DeWitt Hospital take pride in the continuing promotion and provision of care that is patient and family centered, moulded by evidence-based studies, and grounded within a culture of excellence.  Read More