History

Arlington County is an urban county of about twenty-six square miles located directly across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. Originally part of the ten-mile square surveyed in 1791 for the Nation's Capital, the portion on the west bank of the Potomac River was returned to the Commonwealth of Virginia by the U.S. Congress in 1846. This area was known as Alexandria City and Alexandria County until 1920, when the County portion was renamed Arlington County.

Ballston, named after the Ball family, relatives of George Washington, Ballston is centered on the intersection of Glebe Road and Wilson Boulevard. According to the Arlington Historical Society, Ballston was first known as Birch's Crossroads. The historical marker that stands at the new Ballston Point complex reads: This intersection has been a focal point since about 1740, when two roads were developed, one from the future site to Alexandria to the mouth of Pimmit Run, the other from Awbury's Ferry (at the site of Rosslyn) to the Falls Church. The first came to be known as the Glebe Road because it passed the glebe of Fairfax Parish and in order to distinguish it from other roads to the Falls. The second was eventually named Wilson Boulevard in honor of President Wilson. The intersection became known as Ball's Crossroads when Ball's Tavern was established here in the early 1800s.

By 1900 a well-defined village called Central Ballston had developed in the area bounded by the present-day Wilson Boulevard, Taylor Street, Washington Boulevard, and Pollard Street. The track of the Washington, Arlington, and Falls Church Electric Railroad ran along what is now Fairfax Drive; the Ballston Station was at Ballston Avenue, now North Stuart Street .

On November 4,1951, the Parkington Shopping Center opened on the site where Ballston Common Mall now stands, and for some time afterward the area was called "Parkington". Parkington was anchored by the headquarters location of the Hecht Company.

Ballston is located along the route of a trolley line that ran to Washington, D.C. It grew and changed considerably after WMATA opened the Ballston Metrorail subway station on December 1st, 1979. The Hilton Arlington was built right above this Metro Stop in 1988.