This kind of curious-looking building in Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia burned down just a few days ago, according to a Facebook user, or was perhaps just demolished, which had been in the works. It was a long semi-vacant office building, along an aging commercial strip which was once home to a small airport. It’s a cool place.

The Facebook thread was on one of those old-timer groups for Fairfax County, and the person was asking if anyone knew what the building’s history was/what it used to be. So, obviously, I was following the thread.

There are two nearby businesses that a whole bunch of people confidently remembered being in this building. And both are incorrect. The mystery building here was not the Toys ‘R’ Us (now a Food Star international supermarket):

Nor was it the Wonder Bread bakery outlet, which was apparently around a long time ago, but shows up, very grainy, in the 2007 Google Street View imagery:

The funny thing is that both the Toys ‘R’ Us and the Wonder Bread colors/logos closely match the colorful tiling (or maybe plastic or paint?) on the front of that mystery building. It especially looks like an old-school Toys ‘R’ Us with tiles on the front, which the location here may have looked like back then.

People misremembering what stuff was decades ago is a fixture of these Facebook groups, but so is someone who really remembers or digs up a definitive source.

And someone came through!

But first a little bonus: apparently, the first-ever Roy Rogers restaurant, with its real Old West theme and probably the big wagon neon sign, was located right next to the mystery building, where a McDonald’s sits now. (Unfortunately, the Roy Rogers building itself is gone):

(However, there are, or were, Roy Rogers structures that McDonald’s heavily remodeled out there, like this one!)

Anyway. That mystery building has been a number of various businesses and offices over the years, like a print shop. Lots of folks remember going there over the years for various appointments and things.

But its most famous use, and as far as I can tell its original use, was as a military contractor/think tank that did work on intercontinental ballistic missiles! The building is from the 1950s and the think tank, Analytic Services Inc., or ANSER, got going in the late 1950s. This article on the building and organization quotes someone who’s father started in 1957 as one of ANSER’s first employees.

As you can imagine, this was not exactly public information, and the work going on inside was sensitive to national security. Northern Virginia is full of nondescript buildings like this that house CIA, other three-letter agency, or sensitive defense, security, or intelligence offices or staff. From the article:

Because of the weapons research going on inside, ANSER’s nondescript building was “a high-security island in the middle of the Bailey’s Crossroads commercial strip,” Emlet says. There were conference rooms in the interior of the building with no windows, and all telephone lines were cut off during meetings.

There’s also a kind of funny story recounted in the piece, which a commenter on the Facebook thread says his father told him way back. From the article:

At one point, when his father worked at ANSER, Emlet says, a small plane had just taken off from that airport when its wing clipped the western edge of ANSER’s roof as it plummeted onto several cars in the building’s parking lot.

“Needless to say, this caused quite a kerfuffle,” he said, “particularly when staff rushed out to lend aid and were unable to find a pilot. That is until emergency vehicles of all stripes – Fairfax County police, the fire department, Virginia state police, a posse of FBI agents, some ‘Men in Black’ (possibly CIA or NSA), and a squad of soldiers from Fort Myers – arrived.”

“The pilot had been thrown clear and had rolled under one of the cars. Fortunately, all the damage was limited to several cars and the plane itself,” Emlet continued. “I can’t even imagine how long the pilot was in interrogation.”

And here’s the Facebook comment:

Was some kind of secret government thing. My dad put secure telephone equipment in there back in the 70’s and McDonalds was THE Roy Rogers as in first one in the area. Seem to think I remember a plane crashing in the parking lot and the pilot was found under a car in Roy Rogers parking area that my dad told me about.

The amount of detail people remember is really cool, and these posts—what was this building, anyone remember X, Y, Z, this thing is being torn down, share your memories—they spark so much recollection. Which is to say, informal, hyperlocal history. Good stuff.

Related Reading:

What Do You Think You’re Looking At? #20

Secondhand Supermarkets, Part II

Old Shells, New Life

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