Arlington's Boundary with the District of Columbia
No definite effort was made at the time of the recession of Alexandria County to Virginia to draw a boundary line between the County and the remaining portion of the District of Columbia. As noted above, the various acts bringing about the recession referred only to "the territory heretofore ceded by the Commonwealth of Virginia." The actual boundary was of small moment at the time.
Toward the end of the 19th Century, however, the United States Government acquired lands on the Virginia shore of the Potomac largely through the purchase of the Arlington estate. As the 20th Century progressed, roads (notably the Mount Vernon Boulevard and later the George Washington Memorial Parkway) were constructed, bridges and bridge approaches built and, eventually, the Federal Government undertook to construct the National Airport at Gravelly Point below Alexander's Island. A suit[59] ] over government activity in making a land fill raised questions as to the exact location of the boundary—and indeed as to whether Alexander's Island really was an island or was a peninsula. This case, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on May 4, 1931, set the boundary line between the District of Columbia and Virginia at the high water mark of the Potomac on the Virginia shore as it existed in 1791.
But where had that high water mark been? There had been no survey at the time; the shore line had never been marked; and even had it been, the passage of time had made many changes in the river front.[60] ] A Commission was established[61]to deal with this question. The instructions to this Commission were to take into consideration the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, the findings and report of the Maryland-Virginia Commission of 1877[62] ] and the Maryland-Virginia compact of 1785.[63] ]
The Commission accumulated a large volume of testimony and exhibits and completed its report[64] ] in 1935. It found that the "fair and proper boundary is the low water mark on the Virginia shore running from headland to headland across creeks and inlets." It pointed out that inasmuch as the mark of 1791 could not be determined the low water mark should be accepted as of this day. It suggested that an exception be made at Roaches Run where the line should run 150 feet west of and parallel to the west line of the Mount Vernon Boulevard.
Several bills[65] ] were introduced into Congress to give effect to the decision of the Commission but none was enacted at this time. The completion of the Airport and the Pentagon Building gave urgency to the problem: conflicts of jurisdiction hampered law enforcement and complicated the question of tax collection. Moreover, Virginia was anxious to insure that the liquor control laws of the State and not those of the District of Columbia should be in effect at the National Airport. In 1942, the General Assembly had adopted an Act[66] ] covering the boundary question, on the assumption that the bill then pending in Congress would be passed. Disagreement over the details of the jurisdiction to be ceded and accepted by Virginia and the United States Government prevented passage of a Federal Act until 1945 when Public Law 208 was enacted by the 79th Congress. This was followed by an Act[67] ] of the Virginia General Assembly repealing the 1942 Act and ratifying the 1945 Federal Act.
This law is in effect today. It provides that the boundary line
"shall begin at a point where the northwest boundary of the District of Columbia intercepts the high-water mark of the Virginia shore of the Potomac River and following the present mean high-water mark; thence in a southeasterly direction along the Virginia shore of the Potomac River to Little River, along the Virginia shore of Little River to Boundary Channel, along the Virginia side of Boundary Channel to the main body of the Potomac River, along the Virginia side of the Potomac River across the mouths of all tributaries affected by the tides of the river to Second Street, Alexandria, Virginia, from Second Street to the present established pierhead line, and following said pierhead line to its connection with the District of Columbia-Maryland boundary line; that whenever said mean high-watermark on the Virginia shore is altered by artificial fill and excavations made by the United States, or by alluvion or erosion, then the boundary shall follow the new mean high-water mark on the Virginia shore as altered, or whenever the location of the pierhead line along the Alexandria water front is altered, then the boundary shall follow the new location of the pierhead line."
The Act also provided that all the land on the Virginia side of the Potomac lying between the boundary line as now adopted and the mean high water mark as it existed on January 24, 1791 (wherever that was!) should be ceded to the State of Virginia. The United States, however, reserved concurrent jurisdiction over this area.