Falls Church, Virginia | ||
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Independent city | ||
City of Falls Church | ||
A view off Broad Street (Route 7)
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Coordinates: 38°52′56″N 77°10′16″W / 38.88222°N 77.17111°WCoordinates: 38°52′56″N 77°10′16″W / 38.88222°N 77.17111°W | ||
Country | United States of America | |
State | Virginia | |
County | None (Independent city) | |
Settled | c. 1699 | |
Incorporated (town) | 1875 | |
Incorporated (city) | 1948 | |
Government | ||
• Type | Council–manager | |
• Mayor | David Tarter | |
Area | ||
• Total | 2.0 sq mi (5.2 km2) | |
• Land | 2.0 sq mi (5.2 km2) | |
• Water | 0 sq mi (0 km2) | |
Elevation | 325 ft (99 m) | |
Population (2010) | ||
• Total | 12,332 | |
• Estimate (2015) | 13,892 | |
• Density | 6,950/sq mi (2,683.5/km2) | |
Time zone | EST (UTC-5) | |
• Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) | |
ZIP codes | 22040, 220142, 22044, 22046 | |
Area code(s) | 703 and 571 | |
FIPS code | 51-27200 | |
GNIS feature ID | 1495526 | |
Website | fallschurchva |
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Sister city is Kokolopori, Democratic Republic of Congo |
Falls Church is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 12,332. The estimated population in 2015 was 13,892.
Falls Church is included in the Washington metropolitan area.
Taking its name from The Falls Church, an 18th-century Anglican parish, Falls Church gained township status within Fairfax County in 1875. In 1948, it was incorporated as the City of Falls Church, an independent city with county-level governance status. It is also referred to as Falls Church City.
The city's corporate boundaries do not include all of the area historically known as Falls Church; these areas include portions of Seven Corners and other portions of the current Falls Church postal districts of Fairfax County, as well as the area of Arlington County known as East Falls Church, which was part of the town of Falls Church from 1875 to 1936. For statistical purposes, the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the City of Falls Church with Fairfax City and Fairfax County.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Falls Church has the lowest level of poverty of any independent city or county in the United States.
When the City of Falls Church was incorporated in 1948, its boundaries included only the central portion of the area historically known as Falls Church; those other areas, often still known as Falls Church (although they lie in Fairfax and Arlington counties), are considered here for historical reasons.
In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the area of present-day Falls Church was part of the Algonquian-speaking world, outside the fringes of the powerful Powhatan paramount chiefdom to the south. It was part of the Anacostan chiefdom, centered on the lower Anacostia River near present-day Washington, DC. (John Smith visited them in 1608.) The Anacostans were organized under the Piscataway paramount chiefdom (not part of the Powhatan alliance), which by the 1630s claimed to have had thirteen successive rulers. Tauxenent/Doegs, who had shifted politically from Powhatan's alliance to Iroquois alliances, migrated into the Piscataway territories in the 1660s.