Alexandria County was part of the original 100-mile square created as the
District of Columbia in
1791 pursuant to
Article I, Section 8, paragraph 17, of the
United States Constitution. The portion of the District created from territory ceded by Virginia in
Fairfax County was termed
Alexandria County of the District of Columbia. It included all of the present
Arlington County, Virginia, plus part of what is now the
independent city of
Alexandria, Virginia. The area was
retroceded to Virginia by an act of the
United States Congress on
July 9,
1846 following a referendum of its citizens, and was then known as
Alexandria County, Virginia.
In 1870, the independent City of Alexandria seceded from Alexandria County, and because of the confusion between the city and the county having the same name, a movement started to rename Alexandria County. In 1920, the name Arlington County was adopted, after Arlington House, the home of the American Civil War general Robert E. Lee, which stands on the grounds of what is now Arlington National Cemetery. The Town of Potomac was incorporated as a town in Alexandria County in 1908. The town was annexed by the independent city of Alexandria in 1930.
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