Vietnamese Americans To Get Historical Marker In Falls Church

FALLS CHURCH, VA — A state historical highway marker will be placed in Falls Church to honor the large number of Vietnamese people who immigrated to Northern Virginia in the 1970s and 1980s.

Many of the immigrants opened up stores and restaurants in the Clarendon neighborhood of Arlington. Many popular Vietnamese restaurants in the neighborhood, including the Queen Bee, were forced out of the area as landlords raised rents to make way for chain restaurants and other commercial establishments.

The fall of the South Vietnamese government spurred a surge in immigration, with the D.C. area becoming the third-largest Vietnamese community in the country.

Climbing rents in Arlington pushed much of the Vietnamese commerce west to Falls Church’s Eden Center in the 1990s, which over the years expanded and became at one point the largest Vietnamese shopping district in the country.

The “Vietnamese Immigrants In Northern Virginia” historical marker was nominated by students at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School in Falls Church.

Four other state historical highway markers were approved by the state to honor Asian Americans and Pacific Islander communities across the state.

The proposed ideas for the markers were submitted by Virginia students through the inaugural AAPI Heritage Month Historical Marker Contest.

Launched in May, the AAPI Heritage Month Historical Marker Contest invited students, teachers and families to learn more about Asian Americans who have made important contributions to Virginia history and submit ideas for new historical markers to the Department of Historical Resources.

Virginia’s historical highway marker program began in 1927 with installation of the first markers along U.S. Route 1. Co-managed by the Department of Historic Resources and the Virginia Department of Transportation, the program is an effort to recognize and chronicle events, accomplishments, sacrifices, and personalities of historic importance to Virginia’s story.

Virginia has erected more than 2,600 state historical markers. The five new markers will be formally submitted to the Board of Historic Resources in September and are expected to receive approval in the coming months. Once installed, they will be among the first to focus on Asian American and Pacific Islander history in Virginia.