Although the first English settlers arrived in this area in the early 1600s, the Virginia legislature did not formally establish Fairfax County until 1742. At that time the majority of the county was heavily forested, but hard working farmers and planters, heavily dependent on slave labor, soon cleared the land to plant tobacco, the mainstay of Virginia’s colonial economy. The plant was both a blessing and a curse to those who farmed it. Tobacco brought prosperity to the county’s farmers but also exhausted the soil, forcing many Virginians to move west to find more fertile land.
In 1790, Fairfax county boasted a population of 12,312 people, but in 1800 the county’s population began a slow and steady decline, falling to 9,370 by 1840. Although the population of Fairfax County began to recover in 1850, the county’s residents soon found themselves caught up in the ravages of the Civil War. The war brought untold pain and misery to the people of northern Virginia. Confederate and Union forces clashed repeatedly in Fairfax County and the soldiers laid waste to fields, carried off farm animals, and tore down fences to feed their campfires. After four years of war the county was exhausted.
Shortly after the war one northern visitor commented that Fairfax County “showed no sign of human industry, save here and there a sickly, half-cultivated corn field.” Yet despite the rigors of war, an 1870 agricultural survey of Fairfax Country found considerable reason for optimism. An influx of northern farmers, coupled with new agricultural techniques and fertilizers, sent crop yields soaring and land prices rose to between $20 and $40 dollars an acre. Fairfax County farmers and dairymen found a ready market for their products in nearby Washington, DC, and in the 1930s Fairfax County was Virginia’s leading milk producer. Indeed, for nearly the first two centuries of its existence, Fairfax County’s primary industry was agriculture, and it was not until 1925 that that the majority of the county’s residents lived in cities and towns as opposed to the family farm. Fairfax County grew slowly during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1800, the county’s population stood at just over 13,000 people, and 130 years later its population had quietly grown to just over 25,000.
That slow growth would not last. The Great Depression and advent of the Roosevelt administration’s New Deal brought new energy and thousands of new government workers to Fairfax County. The advent of World War II brought tens of thousands more. The county’s population, which stood at a little over 40,000 in 1940, shot up to 98,000 a decade later. The advent of the Cold War and the continued growth of the federal government, coupled with the growth and diversification of the county’s economy brought more people to Fairfax County. The county’s population grew steadily, topping a quarter of a million people by 1960. It climbed to nearly 600,000 people in 1980 and by 1990 the county had over 800,000 residents. The construction of Oakton Estates was part of the building boom that transformed the face of Fairfax County in the 1980s. The neighborhood began to take shape in the summer of 1983 when Woodside Development, Inc. of McLean, Virginia, signed a deed of dedication and subdivision for a 144 acre tract of farmland land near the intersection of Waples Mill and Fox Mill Roads.
The developers subdivided the property into 149 home sites. Land was also set aside for streets, common areas, and a neighborhood pool. Builders began to build homes in the development in 1984. Woodside Development, which later changed its name to Detty/Anderson, Inc., was one of four builders that operated in the neighborhood. Detty/Anderson built colonials and ramblers throughout the development. The other developers built different types of homes: one built custom homes; another colonials and split levels, and the third built contemporary homes. Developers built the first model homes on Bronzedale near the intersection of Waples Mill. The neighborhood was built in nine sections with construction proceeding north and west along Bronzedale Drive and Flemish Mill and Roman Mill courts.
From there, construction moved north and west up History Drive and Norwegian Mill Courts. Section 9, which encompassed the lower end of History Drive and Stone and Brick Mill courts was the last section to be completed in the early 1990s. One of the Detty/Anderson sales representatives recalled that they sold the majority of their homes to young families, many of whom were drawn to Oakton Estates by the neighborhood’s well-appointed homes and large lots. The Oakton Swim and Racquet Club was also a popular selling point as were Fairfax County’s excellent public schools. Sales brochures also touted that the homes featured brick or low maintenance aluminum siding, two-car garages, masonry fireplaces, skylights and cathedral ceilings, ceramic tile floors, gourmet kitchens, and deluxe baths and powder rooms.
Detty/Anderson built four different model homes in the neighborhood: the single-floor Birchwood and the two-story Oakwood, Elmwood, and Willow models. Starting with those base models, buyers could have their homes built with several different facades and different combinations of brick and aluminum siding. Other popular options upgrades included wooden decks, extra fireplaces, additional skylights, upgraded kitchen appliances, intercoms, and central vacuum systems. All of the homes were on septic systems. There was no access to natural gas when the neighborhood was built and all of the homes were initially outfitted with heat pumps. Homeowners could install oil furnaces for an additional charge.