Arlington Farms
| Arlington Farms | |
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| Arlington County, Virginia, United States | |
Aerial view of Arlington Farms (outlined in yellow) circa 1949. Note: Pentagon on the left, Arlington Memorial Bridge on the right.
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 Arlington Farms
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| Coordinates | 38°52′45″N 77°03′42″W / 38.87920°N 77.0616°W |
| Type | Temporary Wartime Housing (Historical) |
| Site information | |
| Owner | United States Government |
| Controlled by | United States Department of Defense United States Department of the Army |
| Open to the public |
Yes |
| Condition | Demolished |
| Site history | |
| Built | Fall 1942 to Spring 1943 |
| Built by | John McShain, Inc., Doyle & Russell, & Wise Contracting Co. |
| In use | 1943–1960s? |
Arlington Farms was a temporary housing complex for female civil servants and service members during World War II. Built in 1942–1943 by the United States Government's Federal Works Agency (FWA), Arlington Farms was located on the former site of the United States Department of Agriculture's Arlington Experimental Farm on the grounds of the historic 1,100-acre Custis-Lee family estate in Arlington County, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C.
The federal government began planning for an influx of wartime workers years before the United States officially entered World War II. In late 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a law to move the Department of Agriculture's Experimental Farm from Arlington, adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery, to its current location in Beltsville, Maryland to allow for an expansion of the military cantonment at Fort Myer.
The Arlington Farms land was originally considered for the new War Department building. However, when construction of the Pentagon began in 1941, it was on the nearby site of the old Washington-Hoover Airport. In April, 1942, the National Capital Park and Planning Commission selected numerous sites around the city for construction of temporary war housing. In addition to plans in West Potomac Park, near the Lincoln Memorial, on Capitol Hill, near present-day RFK Stadium, and in Suitland, Maryland, some 7,000 units were slated for Arlington Farms, just over the Arlington Memorial Bridge.
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