Home-Made Houses Back in the Day

The parents and grandparents of today’s older Franconia residents would scarcely recognize the area today. Almost every square foot of land has been built on, and the housing zealots are looking to maximize density on what little is left, and even on what has already been developed.

Back in the day, meaning from the World Wars and the Depression, Franconia was a farming community with a few railroad jobs. Poor people scratched out a living as farmers. That began to change with the coming of Fort Belvoir after World War I. Farmers made it through the 1930s and World War II, but it wasn’t easy.

That began to change in the late 1940s when people were attracted to the Washington region because of government jobs. Housing wasn’t plentiful, so the newcomers literally took things into their own hands.

The boarded-up little house pictured with this article will soon become part of a townhouse development. It is located on Beulah Street near the Franconia-Springfield Parkway, and across the street from the new government center. The house was built in the late 1940s by the Taylor family.

A man and his wife would buy a plot of land, say one-half acre for $800 in the late 1940s, and build a small house. There was no electricity, public water or sewer, so they hand dug wells and septic fields. As the family grew, so did the size of the house.

Among them were the Hakenson’s, who bought almost an acre, and the Wilsons, who each bought in Windsor Estates and set about building from scratch. Hakenson had his own hand-cranked cement mixer that no doubt was borrowed by many of his neighbors.  Much of the wood from the Hakenson home came from a house that was being razed to accommodate a ramp for the new Shirley Highway.

Harry and Mary Katherine Hakenson would raise eight children in the home-made house, expanding it as the family grew. Seven of the kids were boys, one of which, Don, is now a vice president of the Franconia Museum. Jim and Helen Wilson had an adopted daughter, Debbie, who as a youngster helped build the home. Either she or her mother ran the office for Joe Alexander in each of his 32 years as Lee District Supervisor. Debbie also served as a vice president of the Museum.

There were several small houses on the property when Cary Nalls’ grandparents bought what would become Nalls Produce. They remain today. Cary is a member of the Museum’s Board of Directors. Grandparents Carroll and Mattie Nalls built an even smaller house for Mattie’s father, Arthur, who was prone to break out with music on his fiddle at night when others wanted to sleep. That house still remains. Before she was married, Mattie’s family would move furniture out of their homestead nearby so  there would be room for musicians and dancing.

Judy Hutchinson still lives on the property near the Moose Lodge that belonged to her family. When her father came home from World War II, he built a small house there, and then went to work as a carpenter for the developers of Hybla Valley, Virginia Hills, and the new Rose Hill subdivision, which began in the early 1950s. Judy is the secretary of the Museum and is responsible for the organization and editing of its published articles, including this one!

Before there was a Beltway, and even for a little while afterward, there was a small community on Las Vegas Street off Quaker Lane before you came to Cameron Run.  Marti Hall, now the wife of Museum President Carl Sell, spent her teenage years there in a house built by her grandfather. Nearby was the Cash family, also in a homemade house. After the Beltway was built, the enclave was reached via bridge. That lasted until Alexandria annexed the area and the houses were demolished for flood control and development. Residents previously reached Alexandria by fording Cameron Run.

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FRANCONIA REMEMBERS
This is one of the Franconia Museum’s occasional articles highlighting the area history.  If you would like for a friend to receive these FREE articles, contact us at FranconiaMuseum@yahoo.com. Memberships also are encouraged so we can continue our work. The Museum is located in the Franconia Government Center, currently located at 6121 Franconia Road, Alexandria, Virginia 22310. The hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. The Museum is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization as approved by the Internal Revenue Service.