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John Glenn, First Arlingtonian in Orbit
Hat tip, Arlnow.com: Morning Notes, December 9, 2016
John Glenn, First Arlingtonian in Orbit
To mark the passing of the hero of the American Space Age, we’re re-sharing our blog post from Feb. 14, 2012, written on the 50th anniversary of his first space trip to orbit the earth.
Glenn’s death at age 95 was announced Dec. 8, 2016.
Fifty years ago this month, on Feb. 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first Arlingtonian to orbit the Earth.
Glenn home, North Harrison Street, 1958-1963
While often celebrated for an Ohio pedigree on par with the Wright brothers of Dayton, New Concord’s favorite son was also among the wave of transients to settle in suburban Washington amid the Cold War-era build-up of jobs and conveniences.
A Marine test pilot, and veteran of both World War II and the Korean War, Glenn was commuting almost four hours a day between Maryland’s Patuxent Naval Air Station and a desk assignment in temporary offices on the National Mall.
He and his wife, Annie, and their two children were lured to Northern Virginia in 1958 by the promise of a good school district and “a beautiful tree-shaded hillside.”
Arlington real estate prices were already “high” for the times, Glenn later recalled in his autobiography, but not completely beyond reach of a junior officer’s annual income, roughly $10,000.
To mark the passing of the hero of the American Space Age, we’re re-sharing our blog post from Feb. 14, 2012, written on the 50th anniversary of his first space trip to orbit the earth.
Glenn’s death at age 95 was announced Dec. 8, 2016.
Fifty years ago this month, on Feb. 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first Arlingtonian to orbit the Earth.
Glenn home, North Harrison Street, 1958-1963
While often celebrated for an Ohio pedigree on par with the Wright brothers of Dayton, New Concord’s favorite son was also among the wave of transients to settle in suburban Washington amid the Cold War-era build-up of jobs and conveniences.
A Marine test pilot, and veteran of both World War II and the Korean War, Glenn was commuting almost four hours a day between Maryland’s Patuxent Naval Air Station and a desk assignment in temporary offices on the National Mall.
He and his wife, Annie, and their two children were lured to Northern Virginia in 1958 by the promise of a good school district and “a beautiful tree-shaded hillside.”
Arlington real estate prices were already “high” for the times, Glenn later recalled in his autobiography, but not completely beyond reach of a junior officer’s annual income, roughly $10,000.