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ALEXANDRIA, Va. - On July 11, 1949, two days before the official 200th anniversary of the city's founding, Alexandria staged a historical pageant called "Alexandria Thy Son" at the King's Meadow Theatre on South Lee Street. The production was the centerpiece of a yearlong bicentennial celebration that the city had been building toward all year — one that recognized not just how old Alexandria was, but what it had become.
The tributes that year went beyond a single evening at the theater. The city published a commemorative brochure outlining its accomplishments by mid-century. And the United States Post Office issued a 6-cent airmail stamp featuring two of Alexandria's most iconic landmarks — Carlyle House and Gadsby's Tavern — to mark the occasion. For a city that had been founded as a tobacco trading post on the Potomac in 1749, the stamp was a quiet acknowledgment that Alexandria had earned its place in the national story.
The city was chartered two hundred years after John Alexander's land was surveyed and the first public auction of town lots was held along the river. George Washington had walked its streets, trained its militia, and worshipped in its churches. It had been part of the District of Columbia, then given back to Virginia. It had been occupied by Union forces throughout the Civil War. And by 1949, it was a thriving mid-century Southern city ready to celebrate.
Tonight Alexandria turns 277 — and throws the same kind of party it always has. The Alexandria & USA Birthday Celebration runs 6 to 9:45 p.m. at Oronoco Bay Park, 100 Madison St. There will be a performance by the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, fireworks at 9:30 p.m., and birthday cupcakes courtesy of City Council. Admission is free.
The King's Meadow Theatre is long gone. The airmail stamp is a collector's item. But the city is still here, still on the Potomac, still celebrating.
Ryan Belmore
Ryan Belmore
