At this time 60 years ago, both the Waynewood Citizens’ Association (WCA) and the Waynewood Recreation Association (WRA) were preparing for their first summer of official activities. They were, for the first time since the WCA’s inception in 1958, moving forward as separate entities. The WRA, which began as the Recreation Committee of the WCA, held its first annual meeting on February 8, 1960. With that success, the WCA discontinued the Recreation Committee tasking the Chairmen of the Youth Activities and Area Beautification Committees to act as liaisons to the WRA.
Welcome Committee. Note the inclusion of Rank
as the community housed many military families.
The WCA Beautification Committee leapt into spring, negotiating discounted subscriptions for two spring staples. Waynewoodians, as a community, took advantage of the opportunity and ordered 183 bags of Turf Builder from Village Hardware at a cost of $3.85 per bag. Likewise, they purchased 904 Azaleas from the Pohick Garden Club for 50 cents each! The Youth Activities committee showed that the WCA tended to children as well as yards. After evaluating local options, they chose to join the Hollin Hall Little League which offered baseball for boys and softball for girls. Representatives from the WCA worked with Fairfax County to have supervision at the new Waynewood School Playground for the Summer. Fairfax County agreed to provide one playground supervisor at no cost. The Citizens Association would pay $60-75 for a second supervisor. The program was open at no cost to families in and around the Waynewood community. Over 100 children took part every day for the length of the Summer.
The WCA published its 2nd directory showing 300 families living in the neighborhood, nearly double the population from the previous year. The Special Activities Committee reported that they were pursuing 4 areas of interest:
- Get togethers within each Area,
- A bowling league,
- An orchestra and
- A cocktail and dinner dance at Belle Haven Country Club.
Intersection of Fort Hunt Road and Cedar Street,
now Elkin Street, worried local neighborhoods.
(Intersection shown at left hand side of photo,
Waynewood Elementary at Top Right)
The WCA wasn’t all wine and cheese though. The 1960 Newsletter reminded residents to license their dogs and cautioned parents who had given their boys a BB or pellet gun, to instruct them not to use it in the neighborhood. The Watch Dog Committee was monitoring a commercial development planned for the intersection of Fort Hunt Road and Cedar Street. (now Elkin Street.) Neighbors took exception to the projected increase in traffic close to Waynewood Elementary and the Volunteer Fire station.
Meanwhile, the WRA had its hands full selling pool memberships and preparing to construct the recreation facility. They set up corporate accounts with Mount Vernon Bank and Trust and qualified for a $50k loan. Five contractors bid on the project with a variety of options. The WRA selected The Manchester Firm who agreed to complete the project within 120 days for $115,607. By the end of June, the Waynewood community hoped to have:
- Swimming and wading pools
- Bathhouse
- 2 Double tennis courts,
- Paved children’s play area
- Paved parking lot
- Sidewalks
to the Gosnell Family. Number 4, the first active
membership,belonged to Seth Brewer,
the first WRA President.
The WRA set the annual dues at $78 per family with the option to pay in three equal installments of $26 on the first of June, July and August. The Membership Committee agreed to print and bind membership certificates in permanent covers. A picture process would be used to identify the Primary and Associate members upon entry of the pool. By March 23, the WRA announced that they had sold the magic number of 200 pool memberships, and notified the Gosnell Corporation to arrange transfer of the deed for the 8 acre recreation area to the WRA.
As the end of May approached, the recreation area needed a few final items: playground equipment, top coats on the parking and paved play areas, terrazzo tile for the pool. The tennis courts would not be ready until later in the Summer. The Board selected Swimco as the best qualified contractor to manage the pool that first summer.
The WRA and WCA envisioned a July 4th Dedication Ceremony for the pool. 1300 lunches were served to 900 people courtesy of the Gosnell Corporation. John and Pat Shafer, children of Earl Shafer, chairman of the building committee, have vivid memories of the afternoon:
“The parade was on a much lower scale in 1960 than it is today. The only Waynewood participation then were the officers and dignitaries of the Waynewood Homeowners and Recreation Associations. The volunteer Fire Department …had a fire engine and an ambulance in the parade; the police department had a car. The Park Rangers… rode their horses.
Likewise, WRA grounds looked quite different,
“there were very few houses behind the pool and very few between the pool and Waynewood Elementary. Shafer Field had not been cleared nor had the tennis courts been completed. All activities were centered on the pool. The pool was L-shaped with racing lanes and a diving well for a low board and a high board. Everything was bright, white concrete–including the floor inside the building.”
The rest of the Summer of 1960 went on much as it does now. However, when WRA board met on July 14th, they approved two proposals that would set them up for the future: the first to clear the area south and west of the pool to put in 3 baseball diamonds and the second to organize a swim team. This year, in these uncertain times brought on by the coronavirus, we may find our celebrations pared back down, but the volunteers of the WCA and the WRA are, as they have for 60 years, working for the good of our community.
Slideshow: Waynewood Recreation Grounds Through the Years
You’ll find more Waynewood Neighborhood History here.
4 Responses to Waynewood Summer: A Sixty-Year Tradition