A.P. Holmes stands in front of his gas station, at the intersection of Lee Highway and Braddock Road in Centreville, sometime in the early 1930's. (Photo courtesy of the Fairfax County Public Library Photographic Archive)

1932 was the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth, and the Chamber leadership decided to use the commemoration of the county's native son to promote tourism and business relocation. The Chamber launched a full-scale membership drive in hopes of generating additional funds for a major promotional campaign to attract visitors and industry to Fairfax.

The Chamber also weighed in on an historic referendum that would shape Virginia's road building policy for generations. Nonetheless, voter turnout was low, while passions ran very high during the months leading up to the August 1932 referendum on the question of the state taking control of the construction and maintenance of Fairfax County's road system, in exchange for the one-cent gas tax collected locally. Known as the Byrd Road Act, similar referendums were held throughout Virginia. Ultimately, the Chamber's endorsement helped spur a 600-vote margin to give control of the highways to the state, a system that still exists.

Several months later, in another big election on November 8, Franklin Delano Roosevelt of New York and Vice Presidential running mate John Nance Garner were elected to the White House in a nationwide Democrat landslide. Fairfax County voters returned strong majorities for Democrats across the board. Roosevelt later appointed prominent Fairfax Congressman R. Walton Moore to a senior State Department post.

During the Depression, Moore attempted to mediate between the Board of Supervisors, the Chamber of Commerce and others that were calling for reduced county spending. In 1933, the Chamber unsuccessfully advocated that county salaries be cut and several offices eliminated.

Always a force for change in the County's annual budget debate, the Chamber waded into the issue of teachers' salaries. When it was learned that overall teacher compensation reached $132,000, more than half the school system's total budget, it was proposed that the Chamber seek to reduce their salaries. Strenuously opposing that idea were Moore and legendary County School Superintendent W. T. Woodson. Teachers then earned between $85 and $110 a month.

At the same time, Fairfax's school age population was growing rapidly and the county needed more revenues to build new schools. Concerned that state and local government relied too much on the real property tax, the Chamber announced its support for the creation of the sales tax. Chamber member John W. Brookfield of Springfield opposed it, saying the county's retail merchants would be at a competitive disadvantage with Washington, which had no sales tax.

On October 6, 1933, Fairfax joined the rest of Virginia in voting overwhelmingly to end Prohibition. By a 5-2 margin, Fairfax helped make Virginia the 32nd state to approve the 21st Amendment.

Lobbying Richmond for more road construction funds

Road building has long been among the Chamber's top priorities. In the spring of 1935, the Chamber announced its intention to lobby the State Highway Administration for $250,000 to fund construction of the county's secondary road program.

The Chamber had an activist legislative agenda in the early decades, and its message was often well received in Richmond. It helped that State Senator John W. Rust of Fairfax was a member of the Chamber's Legislative Affairs committee.

"The County Chamber of Commerce has been endeavoring to bring this about. "

Although Alexandria had enjoyed close political and economic ties to Fairfax County in the past because of the city's port and number of merchants, the Chamber sought to solidify this connection, winning praise from the Fairfax Herald. "There is growing...a strong sentiment in Alexandria and Fairfax County for a community of interest. The (Fairfax) County Chamber of Commerce has been endeavoring to bring this about for some time and success seems now in sight." The editorial urged Fairfax residents and businesses to do their shopping in Alexandria, and for the City of Alexandria to support Fairfax County in its efforts to grow.

Governor James H. Price addressed the Chamber's 1938 Annual Banquet at the Herndon High School gymnasium. Governor Price told the Chamber audience that Virginia had attracted 60 new businesses since 1935, investing a total of $61 million in the statewide economy and generating $163 million in salaries. Other news at the banquet included the new Chamber headquarters "with telephone service."

As the leading community-based organization in the County, the Chamber orchestrated the annual Organizations Conference on November 12, 1938, to serve the county's growing number of civic, professional and charitable entities.

In the 1920's and 1930's, Fairfax County led all Virginia counties in dairy production, and by 1938 dairying represented a $2 million a year industry in Fairfax. The county's prolific bovines were typified by Sadie (left), an award-winning Holstein that produced 30 tons of milk over a three year period in the mid 1920s.