Cheney Elementary School opened in 1960. The school was named in honor of Brigadier General Sherwood A. Cheney, a member of the Corps of Engineers and winner of the Distinguished Service Medal. After graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1897, Sherwood Cheney was appointed a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He later served as the Chief of Engineers and was Commandant of the Engineer School from 1924 to 1925.

Cheney Elementary School was built on land that was once part of the historic Black community of Woodlawn. Founded after the American Civil War by freed slaves, residents of Woodlawn were forced to move when their land was taken during the expansion of Fort Belvoir. After acquiring Woodlawn, the Army built Youngs Village, a housing community for Black soldiers and their families, on the site. An elementary school was organized there for the children of these families in September 1940. In July 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed an executive order desegregating the United States military, but it wasn’t until the early 1950s that the order was fully implemented. Families from Youngs Village were relocated elsewhere on post, and the school and homes were demolished in the late 1950s.

Cheney Elementary School was operated by the United States Department of Defense until 1969, when the school became part of the Fairfax County public school system. At first a school for children in kindergarten through the sixth grade, Cheney was changed in the 1980s to grades kindergarten through third. 

It used to be that the housing across the street was temporary and the students came here until they moved somewhere else. Our classes would change completely during the year. ~ Conchita Mehio Stenerson, 3rd Grade Teacher, Cheney Elementary School, 1977-1998

Cheney Elementary School closed in 1998 and its students were consolidated into the new Fort Belvoir Elementary School which opened in September of that year. After its closure, Cheney was demolished to create playing fields for Fort Belvoir Elementary School. The school site is currently occupied by Fort Belvoir Upper Elementary School.

Some former principals of Cheney Elementary School are William Van S. Jackson (1969-1978), Audrey T. Montgomery (1978-1982), Charles P. Gray (1982-1993), Kathleen Baldwin Parzych (1993-1995), Elizabeth A. Henderson (1995-1997), and E. Michele Sims (1997-1998).