The following map of the 1887's shows a black school located next to the Fairfax Cemetery. Church services for the black people were evidently held here too, for older residents of the town speak of sitting on the opposite side of the road listening to the hymns pouring forth from the little schoolhouse.
By 1882 the people began to look forward again throughout the entire nation. The telephone had been invented in 1876. Better news service of the papers followed the founding of the Associated Press. The foundation for the fine art of American printing was being laid. It was one of the most vigorous artistic and intellectual periods.
In Fairfax telephone service was started in 1887. Offices were located in Alexandria, Annandale, Fairfax Court House, Centreville, Gainesville, Haymarket and Thoroughfare. The price of a message to Alexandria was 15 cents, to any other point 10 cents; there was no charge for the answer. Messages were limited to five minutes. The first phone in Fairfax was installed in the Willcoxon Tavern. Here the town people could go to make or receive calls.
Captain S. R. Donohue set up a newspaper office at the west corner of Sager Avenue and Payne Street. He had operated a paper of his own in Alexandria called "The Alexandria Times". When he moved to Fairfax, he brought his printing press with him. This press, which was the first in Fairfax, had to be hand-operated by two men and can still be seen today in the present Fairfax Herald Building.
On Oct. 1, 1890, the people of Fairfax held one of the most spectacular affairs that the town has seen. The occasion was the erecting of the Confederate monument at the town cemetery. As Captain Ballard who headed up the affair proclaimed, the "purpose was to collect together the remains of the Confederate soldiers who, in defense of a common cause, found sepulchre upon Fairfax soil, and to erect a monument to the memory of the Confederate dead."
Two thousand people were to come in all types of conveyances—from the best Washington had to offer down to the backwoods ox cart. Some were even to walk as far as thirty miles to pay tribute to their fellow man.
The town was appropriately decorated for the occasion. Large American flags hung suspended across the streets. Red, white, and blue buntings were artistically draped across the fronts of houses, archways, and gates.
R. E. Lee Camp, Confederate Veterans of Alexandria, turned out with a long line of men, bringing with them Lee Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans. They were the two principal organizations present along with Marr Camp of Fairfax County. Members of other Confederate Veterans Camps came from all over the state—some singly and some in groups. The soldier organizations made their headquarters with Marr Camp just south of the Court House. Here the column was formed for the parade.