Ballston, Arlington, Virginia | |
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 The skyline of Ballston in September 2019 | |
  Ballston, Arlington, Virginia Ballston, Arlington, Virginia (Virginia) Show map of Virginia Ballston, Arlington, Virginia Ballston, Arlington, Virginia (the United States) Show map of the United States | |
| Coordinates:38°52′55″N77°06′41″W / 38.881831°N 77.111292°W /38.881831; -77.111292 | |
| Country |  United States of America |
| State |  Virginia |
| County |  Arlington |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| ZIP Codes | 22203 |
| Area code | 703 |
| Website | www |
Ballston is aneighborhood inArlington County, Virginia. Ballston is located at the western end of theRosslyn-Ballston corridor. It is a major transportation hub and has one of the nation's highest concentrations of scientificresearch institutes andresearch and development agencies, includingDARPA, theOffice of Naval Research, the Advanced Research Institute ofVirginia Tech, theAir Force Research Laboratory, andengineering, management, and public sector consulting firms. Ballston also includes a section known asVirginia Square and sometimes the area is collectively known as Ballston-Virginia Square.
Ballston proper is served by theBallston–MU station, and the Virginia Square section of Ballston is served by theVirginia Square-GMU station, both of which are on theOrange andSilver Lines of theWashington Metro. By some measures, Ballston is the densest neighborhood in theWashington metropolitan area.[1]
Ballston is named after the Ball family, and one of their family cemeteries lies in the neighborhood at N. Stafford Street and Fairfax Drive, also known asVA State Route 237.[2][3] Ballston began as Birch's Crossroads,[4] and later became Ball's Crossroads at what is now the intersection ofN. Glebe Road andWilson Boulevard.[5]
A historical marker that stands near the southeastern corner of the intersection reads:
This intersection has been a focal point since about 1740, when two roads were developed, one from the future site ofAlexandria to the mouth ofPimmit Run, the other from Awbury’s Ferry (at the site of Rosslyn) toThe Falls Church. The first came to be known as the Glebe Road because it passed theglebe of Fairfax Parish and in order to distinguish it from other roads to the Falls. The second was eventually named Wilson Boulevard in honor of President Wilson. The intersection became known as Ball’s Crossroads when Ball’s Tavern was established here in the early 1800s.[5]
In 1896, aninterurban electric trolley line, theFairfax line of the Washington, Arlington and Falls Church Railway (WA&FC), began operating north of the crossroads along the present route of Fairfax Drive, whose name derives from that of the trolleys' final destination,Fairfax City. Construction of the trolley line, which branched atClarendon to serve bothRosslyn and downtownWashington, D.C., temporarily shifted much of the area's development away from the crossroads.[6]
A historical marker near the northwestern corner of Fairfax Drive and N. Stafford Street, one block east of theBallston–MU station, at the former site of the Ballston trolley station, states:
By 1900, a well-defined village called Central Ballston had developed in the area bounded by the present-day Wilson Boulevard, Taylor Street, Washington Boulevard, and Pollard Street. More diffuse settlement extended westward to Lubber Run and southward along Glebe Road to Henderson Road.
The track of the Washington, Arlington, and Falls Church Electric Railroad ran along what is now Fairfax Drive; the Ballston Station was at Ballston Avenue, now North Stuart Street. Here Clements Avenue, now Stafford Street, divided to pass on either side of an old Ball family graveyard.[2]
The Ball family burial ground on Washington Boulevard has a historical marker, which states:
Old Ball Family Burial Ground. This is one of Arlington's oldest family burial grounds. Ensign John Ball (1748–1814), a veteran of theAmerican Revolution (Sixth Virginia Infantry) is buried here. John Ball was the son of Moses Ball, who was one of the pioneer settlers in the Glencarlyn area of Arlington. Also buried here in the cemetery are many of John Ball's direct and collateral descendants including John Wesley Boldin, a Civil War soldier (Company D,Third Pennsylvania Cavalry) and members of the Marcey, Stricker, Donaldson, and Croson families.[7]
In 1912, a competing interurban electric trolley line, theWashington and Old Dominion Railway constructed a branch that crossed the WA&FC near the west end of Ballston, then called Lacey, near a WA&FC car barn and railyard.Interstate 66 and theBluemont Junction Trail now follow the route of this railroad branch betweenRosslyn and theWashington and Old Dominion Railroad Regional Park in Bluemont Park. A historical marker entitled "Lacey Car Barn" located near the northwest corner of N. Glebe Road and Fairfax Drive states:
In 1896, the Washington, Arlington & Falls Church Railway began running electric trolleys from Rosslyn to Falls Church on the present routes of Fairfax Drive and I-66. By 1907, the Fairfax trolley linked Fairfax, Vienna, and Ballston withdowntown Washington, D.C. In 1910, at this location, the railway built a car barn, railyard, workshops, electrical substation, and general office. In 1912, the rivalWashington and Old Dominion Railroad began crossing the tracks on a bridge 200 yards west of here, following the present route ofI-66 from Rosslyn. The Fairfax trolley closed in 1939, but Metrorail’s Orange Line follows its route through Arlington.[8]
In 1951, the Parkington Shopping Center opened at the intersection, formerly known as Balls Crossroads on the site of present-dayBallston Quarter. Parkington was anchored by the headquarters location of theHecht Company, and was reputed to have the largest parking garage in the nation when it opened.[6]
Ballston began toredevelop rapidly after theWashington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) opened theOrange Line's Ballston Metrorail station on December 1, 1979, and when an entrance toInterstate 66 (I-66) opened on December 22, 1982.[6][9]
Ballston also contains a section known asVirginia Square, which takes its name from theVirginia Square Shopping Center that once stood there. Virginia Square is served by theVirginia Square–GMU station.Ballston and Virginia Square-GMUmetro stations are within a 1/2 mile walking distance from each other. The area is sometimes collectively known as Ballston-Virginia Square.[10]
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Ballston Quarter, a shopping, entertainment and residential complex, reopened in 2019 after being closed for two years of renovations.[11]
TheMedStar Capitals Iceplex, constructed on top of the Ballston Quarter parking garage, houses the offices, 20,000square feet (1,900 m2) training facility, for theWashington Capitals of theNational Hockey League (NHL). In addition to theice hockey team's training center, the Iceplex features two indoor NHL-sized ice rinks, office space, locker rooms, a full-service pro-shop, a Capitals team store, a snack bar, and space for special events. The facility provides public skating, figure skating, and hockey programs for youths and adults.[12]Virginia Square Shopping Center once operated in the now named Virginia Square section of the Ballston neighborhood.[13][14]
Ballston hosts the annual Taste of Arlingtonfood festival,[15] astreet fair which has been produced each spring since 1987. The 2009 Taste of Arlington event featured over 40 area restaurants offering portions of their cuisine to ticket-holders, and drew approximately 15,000 people.[16] The regional business development organization, the Ballston Business Improvement District (Ballston BID), (formerly the Ballston-Virginia Square Partnership which is inclusive of theVirginia Square district of Ballston),[10] other area community development organizations, and theNational Science Foundation organize the festival.[16] Ticket sales at the event raise funds for area charities.[17]
The neighborhood has a concentrations of scientificresearch institutes,research and development agencies,think tanks,lobbying-advocacy groups,trade associations,government agencies, andaerospace manufacturing anddefense industry companies, as well asengineering,management, andpublic sectorconsulting firms.
Major employers in Ballston include:
In 2011,Accenture agreed to move its offices fromReston, Virginia to a new 360,000square feet (33,000 m2) facility in Ballston.
The neighborhood is home toWashington-Liberty High School.Ballston is also home to several university facilities, including:
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