From the Archives – Fairfax Station Mission

Saint Mary Church’s first Virginia mission began in Fairfax Station in the 1830s. The need for a church grew in the 1850s, to serve Irish and German laborers building the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, along with their families. Saint Mary priests traveled to Fairfax to offer Mass, often in a train car parked on a siding. “Box Car Masses” soon became a popular description. Bishop John McGill of Richmond laid a cornerstone for an actual church building on September 19, 1858, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, patroness of the new church. Land for the church was donated by early settlers in Fairfax, the Hamill and Cunningham families. The mission became the first Catholic Church in Fairfax County.

The Alexandria Gazette, reported more than 500 people attended the ceremony. Bishop McGill, Saint Mary pastor Father Peter Kroes, S.J., and assistant pastor, Father Joseph Bixio, S.J., many Alexandrians, and Irish and German railroad laborers, who were the new parishioners, attended So did U.S. President James Buchanan and Virginia Gov. Heny Wise! The cornerstone was donated by Charles L. Neale, a Saint Mary parishioner and master stone carver/mason. A capsule contain- ing the names of donors and the dignitaries was sealed inside the cornerstone.

The little church was completed and dedicated by Bishop McGill on September 23, 1860. A local newspaper advertised round-trip tickets from Alexandria for the ceremony on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad for one dollar.  — From Parish Archival Sources

In 2020, to commemorate the 225th anniversary of our parish, we started “From the Archives” as a weekly feature online and in our bulletin to spotlight the history of Saint Mary’s. Due to its popularity, we are continuing the series. An archive of the features is located here.