The Old Forestville Schoolhouse dates back to 1889. It was originally a one-room schoolhouse, but in 1911 it doubled in size when the Floris Elementary Schoolhouse was moved from its location in what is now Frying Pan Park and attached to the west side of the building.
Great Falls — A coalition of community members are working to take control of the Grange Hall and Old Forestville Schoolhouse at the Great Falls Grange.
“Great Falls doesn’t have a gravity point,” says Jorge Adeler, owner of Adeler Jewelers in the Great Falls Village Centre. “It doesn’t have a place that unifies the community … Great Falls never has enjoyed a place that we can call ours.”
Adeler is spearheading the coalition of community members who are forming a nonprofit organization, the Great Falls Grange Foundation, so the community can have more control of the buildings.
“The purpose is to create the heart of Great Falls where we will have arts, music, entertainment, fairs, civic activities, children’s activities and things that could be truly beneficial for the entire community,” Adeler says.
The nonprofit is working to form a partnership with the Fairfax County Park Authority, which owns the historic property. The nonprofit will comprise these member organizations:
- Amadeus Concerts, Inc.
- Arts of Great Falls
- Great Falls Business and Professional Association
- Great Falls Citizens Association
- Great Falls Friends and Neighbors
- Great Falls Garden Club
- Great Falls Studios
- Optimist Club of Great Falls
*Traveling Players Ensemble
The nonprofit will also be supported by the Great Falls Volunteer Fire Department and the Great Falls Library.
After four years of talking about the idea amongst community members, Adeler and all the parties finally gathered in person at the end of the year to hash out an agreement. The talks were paused for the holidays, but will continue this month.
“There is still work to be done by both the community group and the Park Authority,” says Judith Pedersen, a spokesperson for the agency. “We still anticipate that we’re moving forward and that sometime mid-year, we hope, we’ll have everything in place.”
The county will retain ownership of the building, but the parties —the Great Falls Grange Foundation; Supervisor John Foust, Dranesville District representative on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors; and the Park Authority— are still negotiating other logistics.
A significant portion of the negotiations are determining the responsibilities and costs of running the venue. It costs the county approximately $12,000 per year to pay for maintenance materials, labor and the mowing of the grounds, according to Pedersen.
Though the parties are close to reaching a final memorandum of understanding, these negotiations have been years in the making.
Since 2014, $342,000 worth of improvements have been made to the site to make it compliant with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. Before these improvements, both the building and the grounds were inaccessible to residents with disabilities and difficult to access for many elderly residents.
To make the Grange Hall comply with ADA access guidelines, a unisex bathroom and vertical platform wheelchair lift and its associated electrical upgrades were added. Improvements were also made to the parking areas and walking routes around the entrance of the building.
“We could not have done that without the support of Supervisor Foust, who really helped us to get the money we needed to do those improvements, which made it accessible,” says Pedersen. “That was the beginning of the positive things that are happening now.”
It is expected that the Great Falls Citizens Association in conjunction with Supervisor Foust will collect feedback from the public about the nonprofit and the use of the buildings before the agreement between the parties is finalized.