History

Original Settlement

The original Fairfax County Courthouse, built near the present Tysons Corner, likely marked the first European settlement in the Vienna area. Street names such as Old Courthouse Road and Lawyers Road still reflect that origin.

First Residence

Perhaps the first settler within the present town limits was Colonel Charles Broadwater, a prominent colonial soldier and public servant, who owned much of the land in the region and built his home here in 1754.

In the 1760s, John Hunter, a native of Ayr County in Scotland, married Colonel Broadwater's daughter. Partly by marriage and partly by purchase, he succeeded Colonel Broadwater as the area's principal landowner. John Hunter built a house in what became the town in 1767 and called it Ayr Hill after his native land. As the village grew, it assumed the name Ayr Hill, by which it was known for a hundred years.

Name Change

Unseasonable weather in the north and attractive land values in northern Virginia brought considerable migration to the Ayr Hill area from the 1840's to the 1860's. Among those immigrants was a family named Hendrick that came to Vienna in 1854.  The Hendricks wanted Ayr Hill change its name to Vienna, the name of their hometown in upstate New York. The change was willingly made, probably because the family owned a lot of land and had become influential in local affairs. The Vienna, New York, that was Hendrick's hometown changed its name to Phelps in 1855.

Present Day

Despite the many changes that have occurred since Vienna became a town over 100 years ago, it has retained a sense of pride in community, and its people have worked successfully to preserve many of the traditions and institutions that give us the feeling of living in our own small town.