School History: Layton Hall Elementary School

Remembering Our Past

Layton Hall Elementary School opened its doors to students for the first time on September 4, 1956. Designed by architects Robert A. Willgoos and Dwight G. Chase, Layton Hall was built at a cost of $389,457 by Eugene Simpson & Brother, Inc. The school’s first principal was Martha T. Wilkins. Recorded among the meeting minutes of the Fairfax County School Board were the names and salaries of Layton Hall’s first staff members.

Name	Position	Annual Salary
Miss Sandra A. Bargad	Grade 2	$3,900
Mrs. Virginia L. Coleman	Grade 2	$5,200
Mrs. Mary T. Deatherage	Librarian (part-time, also at Cedar Lane Elementary)	$4,000
Miss Shirley M. Evans	Grade 1	$3,700
Mrs. Zellwood S. “Zell” Ferguson	Grade 6	$5,800
Mrs. Ruth I. Firebaugh	Grade 5	$5,000
Mrs. Jacqueline W. Flanagan	Grade 4	$3,900
Mrs. Aurelia A. Howland	Grade 7	$4,500
Mrs. Carol D. Miller	Grade 3	$3,700
Miss Nancy E. Squire	Grade 3	$3,700
Mrs. Martha T. Wilkins	Principal	$6,200 (10.5 months)

Layton Hall Elementary School originally had ten classrooms. The school was so overcrowded during its first year that first and second graders attended school on half-day shifts. This necessitated the construction of an eight-classroom addition to the building. Built beginning in October 1956 by the Cannon Construction Company at a cost of $105,475, the new classrooms were ready for use by the start of the 1957-58 school year.

Photograph of a newspaper article. It reads: New School Dedicated – Formal dedication ceremonies for the new Layton Hall elementary school on the old Lee Highway near the town of Fairfax, were held Sunday last at 3 p.m. W. T. Woodson, superintendent of schools, was the principal speaker, and the invocation was pronounced by the Rev. Robert E. O’Kane, rector of St. Leo’s Church, Fairfax. Logan Hysmith, president of the PTA presided. — *The Fairfax Herald*, May 3, 1957. Courtesy of the Library of Virginia.

In 1957, the student population of Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) was approximately 44,000, and about 550 children were enrolled at Layton Hall Elementary School. Margaret Savage began teaching sixth-grade at Layton Hall in September 1957. She recalls having an enrollment of up to 38 children in her classroom during her first years at the school.

I remember that Mr. Woodson was the superintendent of schools and each Christmas each teacher would receive a Christmas card from him. When you arrived at school in the morning you went to your classroom and that is where you stayed except for going to lunch and taking the children outside to play. There was no music teacher and no physical education teacher to allow teachers that half-hour break for planning or perhaps going to the bathroom. There was later a music teacher and an art teacher who would come to the classroom, but the frequency might have been like once every three weeks. ~ Margaret Savage

Miss Savage was one of the best teachers I ever had! She taught our class about photography and turned a small room in the library into a dark room. She also had a dog that was very afraid of thunderstorms, and she would bring her to school on days when we were expecting bad weather. She was so much fun, and she had a genuine love of teaching and her students. ~ Michelle Kerns

During the late 1950s, Shirley Hartwell was the cafeteria manager at Layton Hall Elementary School. All the school lunches were homemade daily and cost about 30 cents. Milk was a nickel.

Photograph of the front exterior of Layton Hall Elementary School. — Layton Hall Elementary School, 1958. Courtesy of the Virginia Room, Fairfax County Public Library.

Layton Hall in the 1960s

In 1960, Layton Hall lost its seventh-grade classes when FCPS opened Sidney Lanier Intermediate School. However, enrollment at Layton Hall continued to climb and by 1962 the school had about 600 students in grades 1-6.

A class portrait. — 6th Grade Class, 1961-62. Courtesy of Anita Curry Hamm.

In 1961, the Town of Fairfax incorporated as the City of Fairfax. Shortly thereafter, the city established its own School Board. However, all the public schools within the boundaries of the newly formed city were owned and operated by FCPS. The Fairfax City School Board and the Fairfax County School Board entered into an agreement which stipulated that the city must buy or build any additional elementary schools required for city school children.

In 1964, construction began on the first city-built school, John C. Wood Elementary School. Overcrowding at Layton Hall necessitated the busing of some students to Fairfax Elementary School, where they were housed in portable classrooms until Wood Elementary School opened. On Monday, March 1, 1965, students assigned to Wood Elementary packed up their belongings and schoolbooks and walked from Layton Hall to their new building.

Chicken Fat

In the 1960s and 1970s, the youth fitness program inaugurated by President John F. Kennedy sought to improve the health of American children. The program had a theme song called “Chicken Fat,” by Broadway composer Meredith Wilson, that was played by physical education teachers during class. Layton Hall alumni readily recall the song’s chorus, “Go, you chicken fat, go!” They describe the song, and the floor exercises that accompanied it, as “the old stand-by when it was raining outside during P.E.”

Brood X

In 1970, the periodical cicadas from Brood X emerged in Fairfax. Layton Hall alumna Susan Hamill recalled that one of the boys in Mrs. Hanson’s fifth-grade class put a cicada on her desk, hoping to frighten her. However, much to the surprise of students, she picked it up and started talking to it and petting it. Mrs. Hanson had grown up on a sheep farm in Minnesota and was not afraid of insects or reptiles. If snakes or frogs escaped from their classroom cages, Mrs. Hanson was called upon by teachers to capture them.

Becoming a City School

In 1975, the Fairfax City School Board asked the Fairfax City Council to place a school bond referendum on the ballot to fund the renovation of Westmore Elementary and improvements to the five other schools to which city students were assigned. After holding a public hearing, the City Council voted down the School Board’s referendum proposal. One of the primary concerns of the public and city council members was that four of the schools, including Layton Hall Elementary School, were owned by Fairfax County, not the City of Fairfax, and as such city taxpayers should not be asked to fund improvements to county-owned facilities.

In May 1976, Frederick Silverthorne, a city councilman, requested that a study be conducted to determine whether the City of Fairfax should buy Lanier Intermediate School and Green Acres, Layton Hall, and Westmore Elementary Schools from the county. A referendum was held in January 1979, and voters approved the purchase of the four school properties. After ownership of the schools was transferred to the city, Layton Hall continued to be operated by Fairfax County Public Schools.

Photograph of a newspaper article. It reads: Spring Carnival – The PTA of Layton Hall elementary school, Old Lee Highway in Fairfax, is sponsoring its annual spring carnival at the school, Saturday, March 19, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. There will be fun for the whole family with more than a dozen games, a cake walk, a bake sale, and refreshments. Being repeated this year will be “Cream the Principal” which no student will want to miss. For further information, call the school, 273-3643. — *Northern Virginia Sun*, March 18, 1977. Courtesy of the Library of Virginia.

From 1975 to 1979, enrollment at Layton Hall Elementary School dropped from 412 to 302 students. Like other schools that had seen rapid growth during the post-World War II baby boom, Layton Hall was suddenly faced with an abundance of empty classrooms.

Due to declining enrollment, John C. Wood Elementary School was closed in 1983, and its students were reassigned to Layton Hall.

Photograph of three students standing outside Layton Hall Elementary School next to a door. — Layton Hall Elementary School Students. Courtesy of Betty “Sue” Williams.

In 1985, construction began on a $500,000 addition to Layton Hall Elementary School. The addition consisted of new classrooms, a new library “media center,” and a multi-purpose room. During construction, the old library was converted into four rooms for meetings, offices, and storage.

Becoming Daniels Run

In 1997, Fairfax City voters approved a $25.6 million school bond issue to improve the city’s schools. Most of the money was earmarked to consolidate the city’s four elementary schools into two renovated and expanded buildings, namely Jermantown and Layton Hall.

Officials say that the student-teacher ratios in the new schools would remain the same as in the existing, smaller schools and that both would offer full-day kindergarten. The schools would expand space for curriculum enhancements, including special math, science, language arts, technology, and communications labs. Also, the two schools would have full-time teachers for music, art, and physical education, compared with part-time teachers now. Improvements proposed in the bond referendum are to be completed by September 2000. ~ The Washington Post, October 30, 1997

In anticipation of the closing of Green Acres Elementary School and the consolidation of its students at Layton Hall Elementary School, in the spring of 2000 the City of Fairfax School Board gave Layton Hall a new name – Daniels Run Elementary School.

Animation which fades back and forth between an aerial photograph of Layton Hall Elementary School in 1976 and Daniels Run Elementary School in 2009. — Pictured above is Layton Hall/Daniels Run Elementary School in 1976 and 2009. Photographs courtesy of Fairfax County GIS & Mapping Services.

The Principals

The principals of Layton Hall Elementary School were Martha T. Wilkins (1956-71), Mary Stowers Worley (1971-75), James V. Tiernan, Jr. (1975-81), Carolyn S. Buckenmaier (1981-86), Mary L. Garman (1986-90), Marian R. Sanders (1990-98), and Kathy Mullenix (1998-2000).

Black and white portraits of three Layton Hall Elementary School principals. — Pictured above are 1970 principal directory photographs of, left to right, Martha T. Wilkins, Mary Hope Stowers, and James V. Tiernan, Jr. Former Layton Hall teacher Margaret Savage recalls that Principal Stowers (later Worley) “was one of the most professional people I have ever known,” and that Principal Tiernan “was a very kind and very dear person who stood at the door each day to say goodbye to each student.”

What’s in a Name?

The name Layton Hall was derived from the name of a home built by Joseph E. Willard (1865-1924) that once stood approximately half-a-mile southwest of Layton Hall Elementary School. Joseph E. Willard was the son of Joseph C. Willard and Antonia Ford. A native of Fairfax County, Antonia Ford (1838-1871) was a spy for the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Joseph C. Willard (1820-1897) was an officer in the Union Army. The couple met when Willard arrested Ford for espionage and transported her to the Old Capitol Prison. They fell in love and Willard worked to secure her release.

Black and white photograph of the Old Capitol Prison. — Old Capitol Prison, 1861. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Joseph Edward Willard, the first of Joseph and Antonia Ford Willard’s three children, was born in May 1865 in Washington, D.C. In 1891, he married Belle Layton Wyatt. Two years later, in 1893, Joseph E. Willard built a home in Fairfax and named it Layton Hall after his wife.

Black and white portrait of Joseph Edward Willard. — Joseph Edward Willard. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Joseph E. Willard served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1893 to 1901 and was Lieutenant Governor of Virginia from 1902 to 1906. In 1900, Willard constructed the building known today as Old Town Hall in the City of Fairfax and donated the structure to the community. In 1913, Joseph E. Willard was appointed the U.S. Ambassador to Spain by President Woodrow Wilson. That same year, Willard’s daughter, Belle, married Kermit Roosevelt, son of President Theodore Roosevelt.

Black and white photograph of the Layton Hall estate. — Layton Hall, Circa 1907. Courtesy of the Virginia Room, Fairfax County Public Library.

Joseph E. Willard passed away in April 1924 in Manhattan, New York, and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C. His widow, Belle Layton Wyatt Willard, died in 1954. The Willard’s home, Layton Hall, once stood on land that is now part of the parking lot of the Courthouse Plaza Shopping Center. The dwelling was destroyed as part of a training exercise by the Fairfax City Fire Department in December 1963.