Fairfax County supervisors celebrated milestone anniversaries yesterday (Tuesday) of an elementary school and a community hospital, with proclamation presentations slated for later in the year.
Groveton Elementary honored for 150 years
County supervisors honored the 150th anniversary of Groveton Elementary School (6900 Harrison Lane).
Throughout the past century and a half, “teachers, staff, families, volunteers and community leaders have created a welcoming environment where students of every background can learn and thrive,” notes the resolution, sponsored by Franconia District Supervisor Rodney Lusk and Board Chair Jeff McKay.
The school known today as Groveton Elementary traces its roots to 1876, when the school trustees of the Mount Vernon area acquired land on Old Mount Vernon Road to construct a one-room schoolhouse called the Kirby School.
A two-room building opened in 1925, followed by a larger facility in 1933 as the region grew and educational needs expanded. The modern Groveton Elementary School opened in 1972, with a renovation in 2003 closing off the “open classroom” floorplan that had fallen out of favor in education.
The resolution notes the school community’s long history of supporting its neighbors.
In the 1970s, Principal Bill Zepka established a nutrition program for senior citizens that offered daily meals, along with recreational and educational activities, the resolution notes.
Groveton also played an important role in expanding inclusive education, becoming one of the first public schools in the eastern U.S. in 1974 to offer programs for children with autism.
The school continued to innovate by establishing the county’s first co-op preschool and the first before-and-after-school day care program for working mothers. In the 1970s, Groveton Elementary became a hub for immigrant students, many of them from Vietnam, and in the 1980s, it piloted the county’s first after-school recreation program.
A presentation of the proclamation will be presented at a later date, likely at the school.
Supervisors laud 50 years of Mount Vernon Hospital
The Board of Supervisors also directed county staff on Tuesday to craft a resolution honoring the 50th anniversary of Inova Mount Vernon Hospital.
The facility has been “a great community partner,” said Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck, who sponsored the request in conjunction with Lusk and McKay.
In 1967, county voters approved a $32.5 million bond referendum supporting construction of a hospital in the southeastern portion of the county. Two years later, the Board of Supervisors approved construction of the hospital on its current tract.
Groundbreaking for the Mount Vernon Hospital and adjacent Mount Vernon Mental Health Center was held in 1973. In October 1976, the initial 76-bed Mount Vernon Hospital opened at 2501 Parkers Lane in Hybla Valley.
Six patients were admitted on its first day, and the hospital performed its first surgery and first emergency surgery that same day.
According to Inova’s history of the hospital, compiled for its 40th anniversary, the first surgery performed was an outpatient procedure in the morning to remove a compression screw from an elbow. That afternoon saw the hospital’s first emergency surgery, the repair of a perforated ulcer.
According to Storck’s directive:
“From opening its first inpatient rehabilitation unit and launching programs like Meals on Wheels, to becoming part of Inova Health System and expanding services throughout the corridor, Mount Vernon Hospital has continued to evolve to meet the needs of our residents.”
“That growth has included the opening of Inova HealthPlex, Lorton in 2013, the Veatch Family Emergency Department in 2016, and Inova Specialty Hospital, Mount Vernon in 2023, which became Northern Virginia’s first Critical Illness Recovery Hospital.”
Storck praised the late Mount Vernon District Supervisor Gerald Hyland for intervening when the hospital’s closure was considered during a period of financial difficulties in the early 2000s.
“He stepped up, the county stepped up, and said no, we cannot have that,” Storck said.
After weighing a potential closure or relocation, Inova ultimately decided to keep the then-232-bed hospital in place, while building a separate emergency care facility to serve Lorton’s growing population, the Washington Post reported in 2024.
The proclamation honoring the anniversary will be presented at a Inova Mount Vernon community celebration, slated for Oct. 10.
