School History: Devonshire Elementary School

Remembering Our Past

Named for the nearby Devonshire Gardens neighborhood, Devonshire Elementary School opened on February 27, 1958. Originally a 14-classroom building, Devonshire was built beginning in March 1957 by the Cannon Construction Company at a cost of $373,357. Devonshire Elementary School’s students began the 1957-58 school year at Graham Road and Timber Lane elementary schools. On the chilly morning of February 27, 1958, the sky was overcast, and a light drizzle pattered down. The students, carrying their books and school supplies, boarded buses at their host schools and made the trip to Devonshire where they were welcomed by Paul C. Kelley. Mr. Kelley, who had recently left a teaching position at Willston Elementary School, was Devonshire’s first principal.

Photograph of a newspaper article. The text reads: Devonshire Class Sets Party – The first seventh grade class to graduate from the new Fairfax County Devonshire School will holds its graduation party tonight at 7:30 p.m. Refreshments will be served, and diploma favors will be distributed to graduates. The party committee is sponsored by Miss Kathryn Genovese and Reid Elder of the faculty, and Mr. Paul C. Kelley, Principal. — *Northern Virginia Sun*, May 30, 1958. Courtesy of the Library of Virginia.

Seventh-grade graduation parties at Devonshire Elementary School, as described in the newspaper notice above, were a short-lived tradition at the school. Devonshire lost its seventh-grade classes in 1960, when Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) opened its first intermediate schools. The school operated with grades 1-6 until 1968, when FCPS introduced kindergarten classes at elementary schools county-wide.

Desegregating Devonshire

From its founding in 1870 until the mid-1960s, FCPS operated a “dual school system” with racially segregated schools for white and Black students. The desegregation of the county’s public schools began in September 1960 and proceeded slowly over a six-year period. During the 1965-66 school year, Devonshire Elementary School had 441 white students and five Black students. After the all-Black James Lee Elementary School closed in 1966, enrollment at Devonshire shifted to 458 white students and 79 Black students.

Black and white photograph of Devonshire Elementary School. — Devonshire Elementary School, Circa 1968

In the spring of 1966, to accommodate the forthcoming influx of students from James Lee, construction began on an addition to Devonshire to increase the school’s capacity from 420 to 600 students. The addition wasn’t completed until October 1966, so seven classes from Devonshire were housed at the former James Lee Elementary School at the start of the school year.

Aerial photograph of Devonshire Elementary School. — Pictured above is Devonshire Elementary School in 1976. The 1966 addition, outlined in red, later housed a preschool diagnostic center. Photograph courtesy of Fairfax County GIS & Mapping Services.

The First School Closing Study

Student enrollment at Devonshire Elementary School plummeted from 542 in September 1968 to 274 in September 1974. In May 1975, the Fairfax County School Board authorized a comprehensive study of Devonshire to determine whether the school should be closed.

Photograph of a newspaper article. The text reads: Devonshire Could Be Shut Down – A study regarding the possible closing of Devonshire Elementary School was authorized by the Fairfax County School Board. A staff study said Devonshire is the most likely candidate for closing in a group of schools which also includes Beech Tree, Graham Road, Pine Spring, and Timber Lane Elementary Schools. The study said the group of schools is 724 students under program capacity, having lost 649 students from September 1970 to September 1974. Devonshire is the smallest of these schools and has had the most severe decline (220 students or 43.8 percent). Devonshire is also the oldest school which does not have constructed music and physical education facilities and is not in the five-year capital improvement program. — *Northern Virginia Sun*, May 10, 1975. Courtesy of the Library of Virginia.

Ultimately, the study concluded that Devonshire should not be closed at that time. One of the reasons the school had been spared was that several vacant classrooms had recently been reallocated for use as a preschool diagnostic center. A report prepared in September 1977 by Devonshire Elementary School’s principal, C. Stephen Mahoney, showed that seven classrooms were being used by the preschool diagnostic center and Project Outreach at that time. Additionally, a senior center, operated by the Fairfax County recreation department, opened at Devonshire in December 1977.

Devonshire Classroom List, September 23, 1977

Classroom	Major Use
1	Kindergarten
2	Physical Education
3	First Grade
4	Combined First-Second Grade
5	Third Grade
6	LD-Reading
7	Second Grade
8	Preschool Handicapped
12	Art
14	Combined Fifth-Sixth Grade
15	Combined Third-Fourth Grade
16	Combined Fourth-Fifth Grade
17	Sixth Grade
18 to 24	Preschool Diagnostic Center and Project Outreach

The Fairfax County Department of Recreation and Community Services will be opening its fourth senior citizen center on December 12 at Devonshire Elementary School. The center will offer a wide variety of recreational, nutritional, health, community, and social service-oriented programs, Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the school. In addition, the program will provide a hot, nutritious, noon-time meal to all participants. ~ Northern Virginia Sun, December 9, 1977

Devonshire Closes

From 1974 to 1979, student enrollment at Devonshire Elementary School continued to decline. The following enrollment data for Devonshire was included in a report prepared by FCPS in January 1980.

School Year	Total Enrollment
1968-69	542
1969-70	512
1970-71	494
1971-72	440
1972-73	406
1973-74	340
1974-75	274
1975-76	258
1976-77	235
1977-78	254
1978-79	241
1979-80	235

In March 1980, Devonshire was placed in a group of schools that had been identified for possible closure. Called Cluster D, the group also included Beech Tree, Graham Road, Masonville, Pine Spring, Shrevewood, Timber Lane, Walnut Hill, Westlawn, and Woodburn elementary schools. On May 22, 1980, the School Board voted to close Devonshire Elementary School permanently at the end of the school year in June. After the school closed, the building was converted into an administrative office. The Devonshire Administrative Center, as it was known, continued to house the preschool diagnostic center and other school and community services until 2010.

Photograph of Devonshire Elementary School after it had been converted to an administrative center.

Devonshire Administrative Center, Undated

In May 2008, with school enrollments in eastern Fairfax County once again on the rise, the School Board decided to reactivate Devonshire as a replacement for the aging Graham Road Elementary School. In the fall of 2010, construction began on a $10.4 million renovation and expansion of Devonshire. The name Devonshire was retired, and the building reopened to students in September 2012 as Graham Road Elementary School.

The new Graham Road Elementary School

The Principals

Portrait photographs of Devonshire Elementary School’s three principals. — The principals of Devonshire Elementary School were, left to right, Paul C. Kelley (1958-60), Louise S. Henderson (1960-72), and C. Stephen Mahoney (1972-80).