Old Town in Alexandria, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
The Alexandria Lyceum
City of Alexandria Est. 1749
Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), March 30, 2018
1. The Alexandria Lyceum Marker
Inscription.
The Alexandria Lyceum. City of Alexandria Est. 1749. One block south is The Alexandria Lyceum, formed as a public education organization in 1834 by Quaker schoolmaster Benjamin Hallowell and other civic leaders. In 1839, the founders joined with the Alexandria Library Company to construct a magnificent Greek Revival structure that the two institutions would share. On the first floor, the library offered reading materials to subscribers, and Lyceum displays contained collections of historical memorabilia and natural history. The second floor lecture hall welcomed community and national speakers such as Caleb Cushing, Daniel Webster, and John Quincy Adams., During the American Civil War, federal forces seized The Lyceum for use as a hospital. Wounded soldiers underwent treatment and recovery in the former reading rooms and lecture hall, resting in folding hospital beds that lined the rooms in neat rows., After the war, the building was remodeled into a private residence, and then in the 1940s, as an office building. Deteriorating and threatened with demolition, a local community effort convinced the City of Alexandria to preserve it in 1969. The Lyceum was renovated and re-opened in 1974 as the George Washington Bicentennial Center of Northern Virginia, the first visitors center for the national Bicentennial of the American Revolution. In 1985, it re-opened to the public as The Lyceum, Alexandria's History Museum.
One block south is The Alexandria Lyceum, formed as a public education organization in 1834 by Quaker schoolmaster Benjamin Hallowell and other civic leaders. In 1839, the founders joined with the Alexandria Library Company to construct a magnificent Greek Revival structure that the two institutions would share. On the first floor, the library offered reading materials to subscribers, and Lyceum displays contained collections of historical memorabilia and natural history. The second floor lecture hall welcomed community and national speakers such as Caleb Cushing, Daniel Webster, and John Quincy Adams.
During the American Civil War, federal forces seized The Lyceum for use as a hospital. Wounded soldiers underwent treatment and recovery in the former reading rooms and lecture hall, resting in folding hospital beds that lined the rooms in neat rows.
After the war, the building was remodeled into a private residence, and then in the 1940s, as an office building. Deteriorating and threatened with demolition, a local community effort convinced the City of Alexandria to preserve it in 1969. The Lyceum was renovated and
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re-opened in 1974 as the George Washington Bicentennial Center of Northern Virginia—the first visitors center for the national Bicentennial of the American Revolution. In 1985, it re-opened to the public as The Lyceum, Alexandria's History Museum.
Location. 38° 48.301′ N, 77° 2.83′ W. Marker is in Alexandria, Virginia. It is in Old Town. It is at the intersection of King Street (Virginia Route 7) and North Washington Street ( Route 400), on the right when traveling east on King Street. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 706A King Street, Alexandria VA 22314, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the Washington Metropolitan Area and in Northern Virginia. It is also in the American South,
Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), March 30, 2018
2. The Alexandria Lyceum Marker
specifically in the Upper South, in the Mid-Atlantic, and on the Eastern Seaboard. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), March 30, 2018
3. The Alexandria Lyceum Marker
(Submitted on April 2, 2018.)
Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), March 30, 2018
4. The Alexandria Lyceum Marker
Credits. This page was last revised on January 28, 2023. It was originally submitted on March 31, 2018, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 509 times since then and 29 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on March 31, 2018, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.
