History
The
area
the
City
of
Fairfax
now
encompasses
was
settled
in
the
early
1700s
by
farmers
from
Virginia's
Tidewater
region.
The
Fairfax
County
courthouse
was
established
at
the
corner
of
Old
Little
River
Turnpike
(now
Main
Street)
and
Ox
Road
(now
Chain
Bridge
Road)
on
land
donated
by
town
founder
Richard
Ratcliffe.[2]
The
small
town
in
the
vicinity
of
the
courthouse
was
then
known
as
Earp's
Corner,
and
in
1805
was
designated
the
Town
of
Providence
by
an
act
of
the
Virginia
General
Assembly
(although
people
continued
to
informally
refer
to
it
as
Fairfax
Court
House).
In a
celebrated
incident
in
the
town
in
March
1863,
Mosby's
43rd
Battalion
Virginia
Cavalry,
better
known
as
Mosby's
Rangers,
disguised
and
with
stealth
and
cunning,
awakened
in
bed
and
captured
an
embarrassed
Union
General
Edwin
H.
Stoughton
along
with
two
Union
Captains,
30
prisoners,
and
58
horses
without
firing
a
shot.
The
town
was
officially
renamed
the
Town
of
Fairfax
in
1874,
and
became
an
independent
city
in
1961
(upon
which
it
acquired
its
current
name,
the
City
of
Fairfax).
In
1904,
a
trolley
line
was
built
connecting
Fairfax
with
Washington,
D.C.
According to
U.S. Postal Service, Fairfax has
13
ZIP codes:
20151, 20152, 20153, 22030, 22031, 22032, 22033, 22034, 22035, 22036, 22037, 22038, 22039
