Bailey's Community Center Renaming
Bailey's Community Center Renaming
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is exploring the potential renaming of Bailey’s Community Center after a mid-20th-century pillar of the Black community, Minnie Peyton. At the request of the Board, the Department of Neighborhood and Community Services is engaging the community to collect feedback on the potential name change. During the June 20 – July 11 engagement period, the community is invited to learn more and share their feedback at a community meeting or through the below survey. At the conclusion of the engagement period, the Board of Supervisors will consider community feedback and preference when making a final decision on a name change for the center.
- Community Meeting– Learn about Minnie Peyton and the history of Bailey’s Community Center and give input on the renaming of the center:
Wednesday, June 26, 2024 (6 p.m.)
Bailey's Community Center
5920 Summers Lane, Falls Church, VA
Spanish interpretation available; for additional language or transportation needs, call 703-533-5750.
- Community Survey – An online survey will be available from June 20 – July 11, 2024. The survey will present three facility names that incorporate Minnie Peyton’s name. Please select the "VOTE" tab below to cast your vote.
Renaming of Bailey's Community Center Flyer (PDF): English/Espanol I Amharic
Please select "VOTE" tab below to indicate your name preference!
HISTORY
About Minnie Peyton
Born in 1889 in Washington, DC, Minnie (Hungerford) Peyton was a well-known matriarch of Springdale, a historically Black community in Bailey’s Crossroads that originated as a home to freedmen after the Civil War. In 1928, Minnie and her sister Florence (Hungerford) Green agreed to buy five acres of land in Bailey’s Crossroads, paying the owner $20 a month over six years; the land was conveyed to the sisters in 1935. In 1954, each sister sold approximately 1.5 acres of land to the Fairfax County School Board for about $3300 each. Though Florence died several weeks later, Minnie continued to live in the community, where she was affectionately known as “mom.” She died in 1985 at the age of 96, having spent 50 years in the Springdale community.
About Bailey’s Community Center
Springdale community in Bailey’s Crossroads had its beginnings as home to freedmen following the Civil War, and has nurtured hundreds, perhaps thousands, of families in the last century-and-a-half. As with many traditional Black communities in the early 20th century, Springdale residents erected a church and built a small elementary school to educate their children, but the neighborhood received few local services – no paved roads, no sidewalks, no public drinking water or wastewater infrastructure.
On September 4, 1956, Lillian Carey Elementary School opened on the property previously owned by sisters Minnie and Florence. The school was built to serve Black students and was named for Lillian Carey, the former principal of the old 3-room school. Lillian Carey Elementary School closed in June 1965 after Black students were integrated into Bailey’s, Glen Forest, Lincolnia, and Parklawn elementary schools. The building was converted into a special education center. Fairfax County opened the adjacent Bailey’s Community Center on January 28, 1978. In 1983, the School Board declared the Lillian Carey school as surplus property. Bailey’s Community Center – which now includes the former Lillian Carey School – was renovated in 1998. Today, Bailey’s Community Center offers a variety of programs and activities for all ages and abilities.
