Library Locations Through the Years

The Falls Church Library was founded in 1899 as a private subscription library with financial support from the Village Improvement Society (later known as VPIS). The initial collection of several hundred books was located in a small outbuilding on the Hawxhurst property on the corner of N. Washington and E. Columbia. 

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In 1906, the collection - which had grown to over 650 volumes - was relocated to a back room in the Town of Falls Church's Post Office, located on the 100 block of E. Broad Street.

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In 1913, the collection was transferred from VPIS to the Falls Church Civic League (known later as the Falls Church Woman's Club) on N. Washington Street. By 1924, the library, which contained about 2,000 volumes, was staffed by volunteers and was open only four hours a week, two hours on Tuesdays and two on Fridays.

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In 1949, the library moved into two rooms at 151 E. Broad Street, but soon outgrew this space. The children's collection had only two small shelves.

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In 1950, the library moved to larger rented quarters at the former Ellison house at 934 W. Broad Street. The building inspector did not permit use of the second floor because the beams of the house, which had been constructed in 1855, were not strong enough to support shelves of books. As the collection grew, the first floor of the building became crowded, with one small table having to suffice as the "reading room."

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In 1954, the library moved again, this time to another rented property at 201 E. Broad Street. This space, too, had limitations. There was one chair in the circulation room and two stools at a plank nailed to the wall for the reference room. Readers who wanted to look through books or magazines could either stand or sit on the stairs.

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The City of Falls Church funded construction of a dedicated library building on land donated by the children of Mary Riley Styles, the longtime chairperson of the Woman's Club Library Committee. The new building at 120 N. Virginia Avenue, which opened in 1958, quickly became the cultural center of the community.

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The library moved to temporary quarters at 134 W. Broad Street during a renovation and expansion project in 1992. (This building is now occupied by CVS.)

In 2020, while the library building was being renovated, the library moved into trailers made available at Oak Street Elementary School. When the trailers had to be closed to the public during the Covid pandemic, the library moved quickly to provide curbside delivery service.

A newly expanded and renovated library building offering improved ADA accessibility opened on September 10, 2021. The Falls Church History Room was relocated to the upper level of the library. 

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