Evening star., 1949-05-02
500 in Dumfries
To Mark Town S
2O0th Birthday
BicentenniuI Dinner
Tomorrow to Mark
May II Anniversary
By John M. Kouffmann

William County hamlet whose
modest bungalows line Route
near Quantico. will be 200 years
old May IL.
Once one of the busiest ports oi
the New World, swirling with the
rising commerce and culture ol
Colonial Virginia, the town now
has a population of about 500.
Although the town is unincor.
porated, the county's Chamber oI
Commerce is sponsoring dinner
meeting in the Dumfries Odd Eel
lows Hall at 7:30 pm. tomorrow
which will officially celebrate the
anniversary.
Dumfries boasts of few relics
of the past as does Alexandria
the contemporary it once sur
passed in importance. but the
town can be proud of its history.
Two centuries ago ships sailed
up Quantico Creek for the tobacco
trade that brought barrels OF the
profitable crop rolling down the
country roads and heavy wagons
rumbling out Of the back country
It had a port Of entry. a court
house of brick and stone, bank.
academy. newspaper; a Colonial
church, the first in the county; a
Jockey club, a theater. a ballroom
in the Long Ordinary, and many
fine homes.
Many Famous Visitors.
The footsteps of many famous
men echoed in Dumfries streets:
Lord Fairfax, Gen. Bradock. La
fayette. lie Compte de Rocham-
beau, George Mason and Light
Horse Harry Lee, who found the
town a center of patriotism on
the eve of the Revolution.
One of the towns more fire.
quent visitors was George Wash
ington who came to attend court,
transact business and visit friends.
He often was listed among the
customers at the towns stores,
and in his diary one can find many
an entry such as "Din'd at Dunn
fries and reached home ab't Dusk.
Dumfries. the first of seven
towns established in Prince Will
liam County before 1881. dates Of
f1cially from May II, 1749, the
22d year of the reign of George II.
On that day in Williamsburg. the
General Assembly passed acts
establishing both Dumfries and
Alexandria as towns in the Col
ony. But Dumfries history actu-
ally goes back even further. A
customs and warehouse was estab-
1ished at the mouth Of Quantico
Creek as early as 1713, and by
1880 there were extensive tobacco
warehouses along the estuary.
Settled by Scot merchants.
Dumfries was laid out at the head
of navigation upon the land Of
John Graham. gentleman .
for the cohabitation of such as
are minded to settle there" The
town was named for John Gra-
hams old home in Scotland.
The port fiourished and grew
quickly. Acts of the Assembly in
dicate that the town. had to be
enlarged from its original 60 acres
in 1859 and again in 1851. But
though a boom town. care was
taken that it be substantial one.
Laws were passed forbidding
wooden chimneys and the keep
ing Of swine in the city limits,
and many landlords of the sur
rounding region built fine homes
in the city.
But Dumfries' era Of brilliance
was short-lived. The tobacco cul-
ture which had made 1t eclipse
Alexandria for the first 80 years
of the towns existence was its
downfall. The clearing of up
land areas for farm caused ero-
sion that clogged the three-mile
Quantico estuary. 1t is hard to
believe now that the town was
once a seaport. The estuary has
silted up into a gentle valley. with
the small creek trickling through
it like any meadow-and-woods
stream.
Town Rapidly Declines.
xxy;tL ~ okI,ar conco of cop, :
mercial Importance except a lit.
tie copper mining, Dumfries rap
idly decayed. Warehouses crum-
bled, fevers filled the marshes,
fire burned half the town. The
ballroom fell in during meet
ing, killing or injuring 20 persons
There even were boat mishaps tt
add to the towns disaster. Many
OF the fine homes were pulled
down, and in 1922 the county seal
was moved to Brentsville, l8 mile.
away.
BY 1s4o Dumfries' glory wa.
ended. Travelling through tht
area that year. Bishop Meade
wrote of 1t: "Once the scene o.
gayety and fashion, it is now IL
ruins pines have covered
where the church once stood
Desolation reigns around"
So Dumfries became just an
other sleepy village between
ridges where Confederate ant
Union troops skirmished.
But with Route / built through
1t, making it only an hour from
washington, Dumfries Is stirring
The Marine Corps base at Guam
tica has boosted Dumfries and 1t
new neighbor, Triangle. greatly
and with new industry such as tn
Possum Point power plant, Dunn
fries future looks bright, with al
Increased population. employmen
and quickened civic activity. Near
by. Prince william Forest Parl
with its potential recreation facil
tiles for 10000 persons a day,
expected to put Dumfries ION tn