Fairfax Station Home Page

Fairfax Station began as a stop on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad, chartered in 1848, with the first depot probably standing by 1852, when a post office opened there. The station became a Civil War communications post and field hospital: during the 1862 battles of Second Bull Run and Chantilly an estimated 3,500 wounded soldiers were evacuated through it, with Clara Barton among the civilian volunteers, before retreating Federal forces destroyed the depot that September. Successor buildings rose in 1873 and 1891, and the Southern Railway relocated the 1891 structure in 1903 while double-tracking the line. After the railroad stopped using the station in 1969, local residents organized the Friends of the Fairfax Station in 1973 to save it; Southern Railway transferred ownership in September 1977. The dismantled building deteriorated beyond reassembly, so a replica incorporating roughly 20 percent of the original fabric was built — largely by Fairfax County vocational high school students — dedicated in October 1987, and opened as a museum in April 1988. The all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) Friends still own and operate it today.