Alexandria's Confederate Street Renaming Process Begins Later In September

ALEXANDRIA, VA — The new process for renaming three Confederate-named streets per year in Alexandria will kick off later in September.

There are at least 40 streets with Confederate names based on Office of Historic Alexandria research, including major roads like Beauregard Street, Janney's Lane and Van Dorn Street, and neighborhood streets like Lee Street, Armistead Street, Calhoun Avenue and Davis Avenue. Additional streets with potential Confederate references are being studied further, such as Hume Avenue, Reynolds Street and Stevenson Avenue.

About half of the Confederate-named streets were named in a 1953 city ordinance, which specified that streets generally running in the north-south directions should be named for Confederate military leaders. That happened after the city annexed a diverse part of the West End in 1952 and before schools were desegregated with the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.

A process to ramp up Confederate street renamings was introduced earlier in 2023 by Mayor Justin Wilson. Much of the work will be done by City Council's three-member naming committee — Councilmembers John Taylor Chapman, Sarah Bagley and Alyia Gaskins — before full City Council consideration.

The first step of the process was the Historic Alexandria Resources Commission researching and recommending new street names with a focus on minority groups and women. ALX Now reported that the commission's recommended names were not yet publicly accessible, but it could focus on restoring former street names before they were renamed for Confederate leaders.

City Council's naming committee will meet on Sept. 28 to discuss the first three streets to be renamed. The Historic Alexandria Resources Commission will present its recommended names, and the City Council members will choose a top three for consideration.

After that, a public feedback form will open for the community to suggest names. Those name suggestions must include a justification for the proposed name and proof of a community-led meeting to discuss the name.

In October, the naming committee will hold a public hearing with the opportunity for public comment. Property owners along affected streets will be notified ahead of public hearings.

Once the naming committee makes a recommendation in October, the proposal goes to the full City Council in November. A public hearing and consideration will be scheduled. If the proposal is approved, city Staff will start to make address, system and signage changes.

If a homeowner's street name is changed, they will need to notify the Department of Motor Vehicles, IRS on the next tax filing, Social Security to collect Medicare benefits, financial institutions, insurance and subscriptions. Passports do not need an address change until the next expiration. For wills and trusts, the city can provide a certified letter as an addendum.

The city government will be responsible for updating homeowners' addresses for the U.S. Postal Service, personal property taxes, land records and permits, AlexRenew, Dominion Energy, Comcast or Ting internet, Washington Gas, the voter registration office, public schools, the Alexandria Police Department, Alexandria Fire Department, 311 system and 911.