School History: Devonshire Elementary School
Remembering Our Past
Named for the nearby Devonshire Gardens neighborhood, Devonshire Elementary School opened on February 27, 1958.
Originally a 14-classroom building, Devonshire was built beginning in March 1957 by the Cannon Construction Company for $373,357.
Devonshire Elementary School’s students began the 1957-58 school year at Graham Road and Timber Lane elementary schools. On the chilly morning of February 27, 1958, the sky was overcast, and a drizzle pattered down. The students — carrying their books and school supplies — boarded buses at their host schools and traveled to Devonshire. They were welcomed by Paul C. Kelley. Mr. Kelley, who had recently left a teaching position at Willston Elementary School, was Devonshire’s first principal.
Seventh-grade graduation parties at Devonshire Elementary School, as described in the newspaper notice, were a short-lived tradition at the school. Devonshire lost its seventh-grade classes in 1960, when Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) opened its first intermediate schools.
The school operated with grades 1-6 until 1968, when FCPS introduced kindergarten classes at elementary schools county-wide.
Desegregating Devonshire
From its founding in 1870 until the mid-1960s, FCPS operated a “dual school system” with racially segregated schools for white and Black students. The desegregation of the county’s public schools began in September 1960 and proceeded slowly over six years. During the 1965-66 school year, Devonshire Elementary School had 441 white students and five Black students. After the all-Black James Lee Elementary School closed in 1966, enrollment at Devonshire shifted to 458 white students and 79 Black students.
In the spring of 1966, to accommodate the forthcoming influx of students from James Lee, construction began on an addition to Devonshire to increase the school’s capacity from 420 to 600 students. The addition wasn’t completed until October 1966, so seven classes from Devonshire were housed at the former James Lee Elementary School at the start of the school year.
The First School Closing Study
Student enrollment at Devonshire Elementary School plummeted from 542 in September 1968 to 274 in September 1974. In May 1975, the Fairfax County School Board authorized a comprehensive study of Devonshire to determine whether the school should be closed.
Ultimately, the study concluded that Devonshire should not be closed at that time. One of the reasons the school had been spared was that several vacant classrooms had recently been reallocated for use as a preschool diagnostic center. A report prepared in September 1977 by Devonshire Elementary School’s principal, C. Stephen Mahoney, showed that seven classrooms were being used by the preschool diagnostic center and Project Outreach at that time. Additionally, a senior center, operated by the Fairfax County recreation department, opened at Devonshire in December 1977.
Devonshire Classroom List, September 23, 1977
| Classroom | Major Use |
|---|---|
| 1 | Kindergarten |
| 2 | Physical Education |
| 3 | First Grade |
| 4 | Combined First-Second Grade |
| 5 | Third Grade |
| 6 | LD-Reading |
| 7 | Second Grade |
| 8 | Preschool Handicapped |
| 12 | Art |
| 14 | Combined Fifth-Sixth Grade |
| 15 | Combined Third-Fourth Grade |
| 16 | Combined Fourth-Fifth Grade |
| 17 | Sixth Grade |
| 18 to 24 | Preschool Diagnostic Center and Project Outreach |
The Fairfax County Department of Recreation and Community Services will be opening its fourth senior citizen center on December 12 at Devonshire Elementary School. The center will offer a wide variety of recreational, nutritional, health, community, and social service-oriented programs, Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the school. In addition, the program will provide a hot, nutritious, noon-time meal to all participants. ~ Northern Virginia Sun, December 9, 1977
Devonshire Closes
From 1974 to 1979, student enrollment at Devonshire Elementary School continued to decline. The following enrollment data for Devonshire was included in a report prepared by FCPS in January 1980.
| School Year | Total Enrollment |
|---|---|
| 1968-69 | 542 |
| 1969-70 | 512 |
| 1970-71 | 494 |
| 1971-72 | 440 |
| 1972-73 | 406 |
| 1973-74 | 340 |
| 1974-75 | 274 |
| 1975-76 | 258 |
| 1976-77 | 235 |
| 1977-78 | 254 |
| 1978-79 | 241 |
| 1979-80 | 235 |
In March 1980, Devonshire was placed in a group of schools identified for possible closure. Called Cluster D, the group also included Beech Tree, Graham Road, Masonville, Pine Spring, Shrevewood, Timber Lane, Walnut Hill, Westlawn, and Woodburn elementary schools.
On May 22, 1980, the School Board voted to close Devonshire Elementary School permanently at the end of the school year. After the school closed, the building was converted into an administrative office. The Devonshire Administrative Center, as it was known, continued to house the preschool diagnostic center and other school and community services until 2010.
In May 2008, with school enrollments in eastern Fairfax County on the rise, the School Board decided to reactivate Devonshire as a replacement for the aging Graham Road Elementary School. In the fall of 2010, construction began on a $10.4 million renovation and expansion of Devonshire. The name Devonshire was retired, and the building reopened to students in September 2012 as Graham Road Elementary School (below).
The Principals
