Burke, Virginia

Burke is an unincorporated section of Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, traditionally defined as the area served by the Burke post office (Zip Code 22015). Burke includes two census-designated places: the Burke CDP, population 42,312 in 2020

and the Burke Centre CDP, population 17,518 in 2020.

History

Burke is named after Silas Burke (1796–1854), who built a house on a hill overlooking the valley of Pohick Creek in approximately 1824. Burke was a farmer, merchant, and local politician. He was a judge, sheriff, director of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad Company, president of the Fairfax Agricultural Society and the Fairfax Turnpike Company, among other leadership titles. He was also an overseer of the Fitzhugh’s plantation, which meant that he managed the Fitzhugh’s slaves and farming tasks. Burke also had personal slaves for his own farm. The Silas Burke house still stands.

When the Orange and Alexandria Railroad was constructed in the late 1840s, the railroad station at the base of that hill was named "Burke's Station" after Burke, who owned the land in the area and donated a right-of-way to the railroad company. The community that grew up around the railroad station acquired a post office branch in 1852. The railroad tracks located on the same historical line are owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway and form part of the Manassas Line of the Virginia Railway Express commuter rail system, which has two stations (Rolling Road and Burke Centre) in the Burke area. The original Burke Station building can still be seen in the community, turned 90 degrees from its historical footprint.

thumb|left|Strip mall in Burke

During the Civil War, the railway station was garrisoned by Union troops. The Bog Wallow Ambush occurred nearby in 1861. On December 28, 1862, Confederate cavalry under General J.E.B. Stuart raided the station. Stuart seized supplies from the area, destroyed a nearby bridge, monitored Union messages passing over the telegraph lines, and then famously sent a telegram to Union Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs complaining of the poor quality of the mules he had captured. Further action was seen in the neighborhood in 1863.

In 1903, Henry C. Copperthite changed the name of the post office from Burke's Station to Burke after buying the Burke House and to build a racetrack for trotting and pacing horses. Copperthite was a wealthy man and the largest non-government employer in Washington, D.C.; in 1914 his factory in Georgetown produced 50,000 pies a day, earning him the nickname "King of Pie". Copperthite built four hotels, stables and expanded the general store. Burke became a popular summer destination where people attended fairs and saw horse races, foot races, motorcycle races, exhibition boxing matches and baseball games. Trains ran to Burke from Washington Union Station in Washington, D.C., Alexandria, Prince William, and Loudoun counties and as far away as Richmond. Copperthite installed the first phones in Burke, and his stables housed the horses of President McKinley and Vice President Theodore Roosevelt. The site of the racetrack is marked by a historic marker erected by Fairfax County in 2016.

The area remained predominantly rural into the mid-20th century. After World War I, Burke's population grew as federal government workers moved into the area within easy commuting distance to Washington.

In 1951, the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Administration announced plans to condemn of land in Burke to construct a second airport to serve the Washington metropolitan area. After a lengthy lobbying campaign by area residents, the government in 1958 selected a different site near Chantilly, Virginia, which would become Washington Dulles International Airport. Land that had been purchased to build the airport was later developed into Burke Lake Park and the planned community of Burke Centre.

The first large subdivision in the vicinity, Kings Park, was constructed beginning in 1960, and was followed by many others over the next two decades, converting Burke into a densely populated suburban community.

A historic marker in Burke denotes the Huldah Coffer House, owned by a prominent resident of the county for many years. Another privately erected historical marker indicates the site of the former Lee Chapel Methodist church, which was intentionally burned in 1951 after having been abandoned for some years, but whose cemetery remains on the site.

Historic sites

Mulberry Hill (c. 1790), located at 9417 Windsor Way
Silas Burke House (original c. 1820; rebuilt c. 1853), located at 9617 Burke Lake Road
Burke Methodist Church/Burke Station (c. 1857), located at 9415 Old Burke Lake Road Burke
Little Zion Baptist Church and Cemetery (1891), located at 10018 Burke Lake Road

Burke

Geography and climate

thumb|Map of the Burke CDP

Burke is located south of the center of Fairfax County at (38.781480, −77.270750). The Burke CDP is bordered by the CDPs of Burke Centre to the west, Kings Park West to the northwest, Long Branch and Wakefield to the north, Kings Park to the northeast, West Springfield to the east, Newington Forest to the south, and South Run to the southwest. Burke Lake Park, which borders the Burke CDP to the southwest and is not part of any CDP, is a large recreational park operated by the Fairfax County Park Authority, featuring a golf course and woodland surrounding Burke Lake.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the Burke CDP has a total area of , of which is land and , or 1.22%, is water. Most of the water making up Burke consists of artificial ponds and lakes.

Demographics

Racial and ethnic composition

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

|+Burke CDP, Virginia – Racial and ethnic composition

!Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)

!Pop 2000

!Pop 2010

!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" |Pop 2020

!% 2000

!% 2010

!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" |% 2020

|White alone (NH)

|40,354

|24,953

|style='background: #ffffe6; |22,856

|69.89%

|60.78%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |54.02%

|Black or African American alone (NH)

|2,856

|2,522

|style='background: #ffffe6; |2,978

|4.95%

|6.14%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |7.04%

|Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)

|95

|58

|style='background: #ffffe6; |52

|0.16%

|0.14%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.12%

|Asian alone (NH)

|8,443

|7,018

|style='background: #ffffe6; |7,749

|14.62%

|17.09%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |18.31%

|Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)

|44

|19

|style='background: #ffffe6; |22

|0.08%

|0.05%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.05%

|Other race alone (NH)

|141

|139

|style='background: #ffffe6; |240

|0.24%

|0.34%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.57%

|Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)

|1,513

|1,171

|style='background: #ffffe6; |2,407

|2.62%

|2.85%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |5.69%

|Hispanic or Latino (any race)

|4,291

|5,175

|style='background: #ffffe6; |6,008

|7.43%

|12.61%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |14.20%

|Total

|57,737

|41,055

|style='background: #ffffe6; |42,312

|100.00%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Burke had a population of 42,312. The population density was 4,920.0 inhabitants per square mile (1,897.4/km2). The median age was 40.9 years. 25.6% of residents were under the age of 18 and 16.2% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 96.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 93.2 males age 18 and over.

100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 13,656 households, of which 41.9% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 71.9% were married-couple households, 8.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 17.0% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 11.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

! Race !! Number !! Percent

| White || 23,891 || 56.5%

| Black or African American || 3,056 || 7.2%

| American Indian and Alaska Native || 153 || 0.4%

| Asian || 7,791 || 18.4%

| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 24 || 0.1%

| Some other race || 2,095 || 5.0%

| Two or more races || 5,302 || 12.5%

| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 6,008 || 14.2%

American Community Survey

According to the American Community Survey, the average family household had 3.41 people. The largest ancestry group was the 13.7% who had German ancestry, 35.1% spoke a language other than English at home, and 25.3% were born outside the United States, 73.8% of whom were naturalized citizens.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $172,432, and the median income for a family was $176,970. 11.9% of the population were military veterans, and 65.0% had a bachelor's degree or higher. In the CDP 2.0% of the population was below the poverty line, including 1.2% of those under age 18 and 3.0% of those age 65 or over, with 5.3% of the population without health insurance.

Transportation

Burke is served by two Virginia Railway Express stations, Burke Centre and Rolling Road, both on the Manassas Line. The former is also an Amtrak station. It is also served by the Washington Metrobus system, via the 17A, B, G, H, K, and L and the 18G, H, J, P, R, and S routes, with rush-hour-only service to the Pentagon and Springfield Metro stations.

Recreation and events

Recreation

Along the boundaries of adjoining Fairfax Station, Burke Lake Park is an park centered on a recreational lake. The park contains a jogging trail, campsites, numerous picnic and sports areas, an 18-hole par three golf course with driving range, a disc golf course, miniature golf course, boat rental, amphitheater, ice cream parlor, carousel, and miniature train ride.

Events

From April through December, the Burke Farmers Market takes place each Saturday morning, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., in the Burke Centre VRE station parking lot.
Burke Centre hosts a fall festival for two days, every September.

Communities

Burke Centre is a planned community that was formerly part of the Burke CDP but is now a separate census-designated area. It is located west of Burke and is divided into five subcommunities: The Commons, The Landings, The Oaks, The Ponds and The Woods. Other notable communities in the Burke area include Rolling Valley West, Burke Village I & II, Lakepointe, Longwood Knolls, Burke Lake Meadows, Edgewater, Lake Braddock, Signal Hill, Crownleigh, and Cherry Run along with Burke Station Square.

thumb|Located in Burke Centre VA, the historic Huldah Coffer House was built in 1876

Nearby towns, communities, etc.

All distances are by road from Burke Station, the original settlement of Burke:

Annandale (5 miles NE)
Clifton (8 miles W)
Fairfax (5 miles NW)
Lorton (9 miles SE)
Springfield (6 miles E)

Notable people

Retesh Bhalla, aka Sonjay Dutt, professional wrestler
Hubert Davis, head coach of the University of North Carolina men's basketball team, former professional basketball player
Chad Dukes, Washington-area radio personality
Glennon Doyle, blogger and author
Tiffany Dupont, actress
Greg Eklund, drummer for Everclear
Mia Hamm, American retired professional soccer player, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion who attended Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke
Nikki Hornsby, singer- songwriter, musician, NARAS member
Allen Johnson, gold medalist in 1996 Olympics in Atlanta (110 metre hurdles) and a four-time world champion; attended Lake Braddock Secondary School
Nguyễn Ngọc Loan, South Vietnamese general and chief of the South Vietnamese National Police, subject of an iconic Vietnam-era picture by Eddie Adams
David W. Marsden, Virginia state senator
John William Minton, aka Big John Studd, former professional wrestler
Travis Morrison, member of the band The Dismemberment Plan
Justin Roczniak, YouTuber and podcaster
Byron Saxton, WWE announcer
Ronald J. Shurer, US Army special forces staff sergeant and medic (retired), Medal of Honor recipient
Mary Simpson, violinist
Timothy L. Smith, historian and educator
Joseph Sobran, journalist and writer for the National Review
Justin Spring, Olympic medal-winning gymnast