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The Alexandria City Council Naming Committee will broaden its outreach and consider additional names for Iverson Street after a public hearing Thursday drew limited resident feedback on a proposal to rename the Seminary Hill street.
The hearing, held at the Patrick Henry Recreation Center, weighed whether to rename Iverson Street to Edmonson Street as part of the city's Confederate street renaming process. Two speakers addressed the committee, one in support and one in opposition, according to a newsletter issued Saturday by Councilman Abdel Elnoubi, who serves on the panel.
All residents of the street were directly contacted and asked to complete a survey, which was offered in English, Spanish, Amharic, Arabic, Dari, and Pashto. Only 16 people responded, according to Elnoubi.
The committee voted to conduct another round of outreach and to add two names suggested by residents to the list of options, Elnoubi said: Ivy and Van Landingham. The latter would honor the late former state Del. Marian Van Landingham.
Iverson Street is named for Confederate Brig. Gen. Alfred Iverson Jr. The proposed Edmonson name would honor Mary and Emily Edmonson, sisters born into slavery who attempted to escape aboard the schooner Pearl in 1848. The sisters were captured and jailed at the Bruin slave jail in Alexandria before gaining their freedom and becoming voices in the abolitionist movement.
The renaming is part of Phase 2 of Alexandria's effort to remove Confederate honors from city streets, rooted in a 1953 ordinance that directed all north-south streets to be named for Confederate military leaders. The City Council directed staff to study the Iverson renaming in September 2025 and approved a resolution Feb. 10 to proceed with a public process on the change.
The same February resolution rededicated Frost, Calhoun, and Stevens streets, an approach that keeps existing street names intact while reassigning their historical meanings. A renaming, by contrast, would require new signs and address updates for residents.
Staff are also exploring a strategy and timeline for restoring Beauregard Street to its original name, South Walter Reed Drive, though no further action has been proposed.
The Naming Committee is chaired by Councilman John Taylor Chapman and also includes Elnoubi and Councilwoman Jacinta Greene.
More information is available at alexandriava.gov/StreetRenaming.
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