User:DrRockzo/Wiehle

Wiehle was a town in Fairfax County, Virginia. Founded by Dr. Carl Adolph Max Wiehle in the late 1880s as a planned community, the town experienced little growth until it was permanently set back by the death of its founder in 1901. The land exchanged owners several times in the subsequent decades before forming a portion of another planned community founded in 1964, Reston.

Pre-Wiehle
The land that would comprise Wiehle was a small portion of the original Northern Neck Proprietary. Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron came to acquire most of this land and it was divided into several manors that were deeded and willed to his favorite nephews. The 12,588 acres called Great Falls Manor were granted to Bryan Fairfax in 1765. Most of this land fell out of Fairfax ownership in 1852 when Reginald Fairfax sold his portion -- two parcels consisting of 8,663 acres -- to an English land speculator named Benjamin Thornton. Thornton, who would not reside on the land, had his brother Joseph appointed caretaker of the property the following year. The property was mostly used for logging timber to be sold as railway ties, firewood and poles. Within a few years of the sale, construction began on the Alexandria and Harper's Ferry Railroad, and forty-five acres of Thornton's land was sold to be used as right-of-way. Passenger service on the railroad began in 1860 and a station was established at Thornton's property. That same year, the Republican Mills post office -- which had been established 11 years earlier -- was changed to Thornton's Depot. During the American Civil War, the railroad that traversed Thornton's property was destroyed by the Confederates, and both armies used the land for cutting firewood.

Benjamin Thornton was embroiled in law suits related to the land that dated from before the war as well as after. He owed money to his debtors, and his brother also sued him for lack of payment for managing the property. The property eventually came under receivership and was advertised in 1885 by court-appointed commissioners. Less than a year later it was jointly purchased by two men: Dr. Carl Adolph Max Wiehle and William McKee Dunn. After the delinquent taxes and lingering issues with the parties involved in the sale were settled, the land was divided between the new owners, with Dunn taking the land south of the railroad tracks and Dr. Wiehle taking the northern part.

Wiehle
Dr. Wiehle.

In 1887, the Thornton's Depot post office was changed to Wiehle. The following year, Dr. Wiehle had a wooden summer home built on the property. commisioned a surveyor named Joseph Berry to lay out a plat for a planned town in 1892

Among the ameneties built at Wiehle were three hand-dug lakes, a one-room schoolhouse, and a dozen residences. Also constructed was a two-story brick building with the ground floor serving as a hardware store and the second floor as a church.

Three industries were also formed by Wiehle on the land to assist in construction of the town. The first of these was a mill built for the Baltimore-based Maryland and Virginia Serpentine and Talc Company. The last of these companies was the Virginia Lumber and Manufacturing Company, which was placed in charge over the now-Wiehle owned land.

In 1898, Wiehle was incorporated by an act of the Virginia General Assembly. The boundaries of the town were described as:"[B]eginning at a point on the railroad track about three thousand four hundred feet from the railroad crossing at Wiehle station; thence north seven degrees east, passing through a planted stone on the north boundary of the railroad land, four thousand eight hundred and fifty-four and one-half feet to a planted stone; thence deflecting to the left, making an interior angle of one hundred and thirty degrees thirty minutes north, forty-two degrees forty-five minutes west, three thousand nine hundred feet to a planted stone, thence deflecting to the left, making an interior angle of one hundred and twenty-nine degrees, south eighty-seven degrees six minutes west, about three thousand four hundred and fifty feet to the southeast line of the corporation of Herndon produced; thence with the said produced line, and with the southeast line of the corporation of Herndon southwesterly to the railroad track; thence with the railroad track to the place of beginning."

Among the newly chartered town's powers was the ability to tax dog owners and lay out and maintain town sidewalks.

In 1901, only three years after incorporation, Dr. Wiehle died of pneumonia.

Revival attempts
In the 1970s, a group of Reston residents attempted to revive the dormant Wiehle town charter after failing to find evidence of it being revoked. Due to Reston's unincorporated status, these residents felt that they were not getting enough services from the county for their tax money and desired to wield more local control. Although Wiehle's boundaries comprised only a portion of Reston, the group planned to eventually annex the entire community. However, there were doubts about the plan being successful due to a lack of successful annexations in Virginia, as well as concerns about a revival of the town of Wiehle jeopardizing plans for an actual incorporation of Reston.

A 1985 review by an Assistant County Attorney found that while Wiehle's town charter was dormant, it was probably not extinct, and a Virginia court would more likely than not rule that it could be revived. However, several hurdles existed in turning Wiehle into a complete incorporation of Reston. A town election would have needed to have been held to fill the vacancies, and that could only be done after precisely establishing Wiehle's boundaries. Additionally, Wiehle's limited charter would have needed to have been expanded, which required approval by the Virginia General Assembly. Finally, in order to annex the rest of Reston, Wiehle would have had to prove to a three-judge court that it could have better provided an entire host of urban services. Given that urbanized Fairfax County already provided many of these services, the chances of annexation were viewed as doubtful by the reviewer.

In 1989, Delegate Kenneth R. Plum sponsored a bill to revoke the Wiehle town charter, stating that "[t]he decision of whether Reston should be a town should be decided by the current residents of Reston and not because some historical document exists." It was finally revoked in February of that year.