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This article is about the history of Falls Church. Falls Church is an independent city in Virginia, United States, in the Washington Metropolitan Area. The city population was 12,332 at the 2010 census. Taking its name from The Falls Church, an 18th-century Anglican parish, Falls Church gained township status within Fairfax County in 1875. In 1948, it was incorporated as the City of Falls Church, an independent city with county-level governance status. It is also referred to as Falls Church City. == Prehistory and European colonization == Northern Virginia, before Europeans explored it, was firmly governed by the Iroquois Confederacy—a consortium of Native American nations and peoples including the Tauxenents, Patawomekes, and Matchotics. Local inhabitants considered the Little Falls of the Potomac River as highly significant—it is the first "cataract", or barrier, to navigation on the river.〔Bradley E. Gernand and Nan Netherton, ''Falls Church—A Virginia Village Revisited''. Virginia Beach: The Donning Company, 2000. Page 13, citing interviews with Fairfax County archeologists Michael Johnson and Martha Williams.〕 The word "Potomac" is native American for "gathering place". This reflected the fact that the river served as both a highway and location for trading. Captain John Smith of England was the first European to explore the Potomac as far as Little Falls. When he arrived there he noted "as for deer, buffaloes, bears and turkeys, the woods do swarm with them and the soil is extremely fertile."〔Gernand and Netherton, ''Falls Church'', p. 13, citing Fairfax Harrison, ''The Landmarks of Old Prince William'', pp. 143, 148.〕 The Colony of Virginia grew out of these explorations, and English settlers may have established themselves at the site of modern-day Falls Church as early as 1699. A cottage demolished between 1908 and 1914, two blocks from the city center, bore a stone engraved with the date "1699" set into one of its two large chimneys. No colonial-era land grants or land records have been unearthed reflecting upon this first home, and its origin remains uncertain.〔Gernand and Netherton, ''Falls Church'', p. 13, citing Melvin Steadman, ''Falls Church By Fence and Fireside'', pp. iii, x.〕 Indian trails meandered past the site of the 1699 cabin—an east-west one generally following the route of modern Broad Street, and one branching off from it to the Little Falls of the Potomac—today's Little Falls Street. By the 1730s these trails became important transportation routes. In 1734 The Falls Church—as it came to be known—was founded at its present site adjacent to the intersection of the important Indian trails. At that time churches were outposts of government as well as worship. Not only was the Church of England—the official church of the Colony—wishing to make inroads in the vast wilderness of Northern Virginia, but the Colony's leaders wished to establish a beachhead of civilization as well.〔Gernand and Netherton, ''Falls Church'', p. 21, citing Harrison, ''Landmarks'', pp. 285–287.〕 Two acres were purchased from John Trammell, a local landowner, and a carpenter named Richard Blackburn built a wooden church. This stood until 1769, when the present brick church was designed and built by architect James Wren. George Washington, the future president, kept the bricklayer at his home in Mount Vernon. Washington, along with George Mason—the future author of the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution—was a church vestryman.〔Gernand and Netherton, ''Falls Church'', p. 21, citing ''ibid''., and also Alves and Spelman, ''Near the Falls'', pp. 3, 8–11, 98–99.〕 Originally called "the crossroads near Michael Reagan's", the site of the church first appears on a map dated 1747, and is labeled the "Upper Church". It was also called "the church up at the falls", and then eventually, The Falls Church. The church was on the route of British colonial troops en route to the forks of the Ohio River on April 7, 1755. Part of Major General Edward Braddock’s British army engaged in fighting the French during the French and Indian War. Modern-day Broad Street was locally called Braddock’s Road for decades afterward.〔Gernand and Netherton, ''Falls Church'', p. 23, citing Ross Netherton, ''Braddock’s Campaign and the Potomac Route to the West'', pp. 1–2; McCardell, ''Ill-Starred General'', pp. 166.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of Falls Church」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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