Laws of the Town of Falls Church

Laws of the Town of Falls Church_pg 14-15

Laws of the Town of Falls Church_pg 34-35

Laws of the Town of Falls Church_pg 36-37

Laws of the Town of Falls Church_pg 38-39

Laws of the Town of Falls Church_pg 40-41

Title: Laws of the Town of Falls Church
Repository: Mary Riley Styles Public Library - Falls Church History Room
Date Created: 10/20/1916
Creator: The Falls Church Town Council
Revised and codified by John F. Bethune
Description: The 1916 Laws of the Town of Falls Church published in October to include the segregation ordinance passed in the beginning of 1915. While the Colored Citizens Protective League had fought to keep it from passing and staying on the law through court battles local courts upheld the validity of the law allowing the Town Council to keep it on the book. This law represented a clear challenge to the Black Falls Church and Tinner Hill community.

While the segregation of town zoning was later made illegal by the Supreme Court in Warley v. Buchanan, the law stayed on the books until at least the 1940s, though it was not in effect. Though it is an overtly violent law, it paved the way for slow violence in the decades following its nullification by remaining both on the book and acting as a continuation of the 1890 zoning out of Black landowners by Falls Church south of Tinner Hill and the district zoned for segregation in 1915.
Research Themes: Tinner Hill
Segregation
Falls Church
Structural Racism
Displacement in Place
Type: Book
Researcher Name: Jacob Connelly
Bibliographic Citation: The Town Council. Laws of the Town of Falls Church, Virginia: The Town Charter Amended Feb., 5, 1916 and The Town Ordinances. Edited by John F. Bethune. Falls Church, VA, 1916.

Photographs from:
“Town Council of Falls Church Minute Book,” Vol. 1 1875-1921. Falls Church History Room. Mary Riley Styles Public Library.