Local histories identify two nests of vice and corruption in Arlington during the early years of the 20th century: Rosslyn at the foot of the Aqueduct Bridge, and Jackson City on the County side of the Long Bridge. Both areas were marked by drinking, gambling, sex workers, political corruption, and murder – murder so frequent that corpses were found nearly every week in Rosslyn’s Dead Man’s Hollow and Jackson City’s Hell’s Bottom. As the story goes, it would take crusading Commonwealth’s Attorney Crandall Mackey’s closure of these dens of iniquity for Arlington take off as a desirable location for suburban development – and residents who would come to relish a deliciously scandalous past as much as they enjoy a more prosperous and peaceful present.
Please join local historian M. A. Schaffner for an examination of contemporary news reports of the actual crimes associated with Dead Man’s Hollow, a side trip into Jackson City, a look at Dead Man’s Hollow today, and a glance at a common feature of the suburbs Mackey allegedly paved the way for.
About Our Speaker: M. A. Schaffner
Michael A. Schaffner lives with spouse and pug in a crumbling tenant farmer’s cottage on land that once belonged to the Glebe estate. When not calling plumbers they write history, poetry, and fiction with rather more enthusiasm than formerly engendered by position classification decisions, benefit-cost analyses, and Congressional budget submissions. Their latest book length manuscript, Unalloyed Pride and Joy, a history of the Second United States Colored Infantry (raised in Arlington), is currently pining for a publisher.
DRIVING DIRECTIONS and FREE ON-CAMPUS PARKING:
Attendees planning to attend the event in-person should enter the Marymount University campus at the library gate on N. 26th Street.
- From Glebe Road going north, take a right onto 26th Street.
- Pass through the stop light at the intersection of 26th and Old Dominion Drive.
- Pass the intersection with Yorktown Road
- Enter the campus through the next gate on your left. The library is to your left as you enter the campus.
- Free garage parking is just past the library at the bottom of the small incline. (Handicapped parking is immediately to your right as you enter through the gate onto campus.)
If the university has lowered the garage gates, push the button and let them know you’re here for an Arlington Historical Society event in the library. To leave, push the button and they’ll raise the gate.
Zoom Available
If you can’t be there in person, you can zoom in, but you must register by the end of Wednesday, October 7, 2026 to get the zoom information. Click here to register: https://forms.gle/ezAbmPVC7vbWzce18
You’ll get an email on the morning of the event (Oct 8, 2026) with Zoom details.
This is one of a series of free monthly public presentations on local history hosted by the Arlington Historical Society. This event is hosted courtesy of the Marymount University politics program’s American Heritage Initiative. For more information, please email: info@arlingtonhistoricalsociety.org.
