ssroads of the West Ox
and Centreville Roads was also called Frying Pan, at which time it was
thought too undignified a name. It was rechristened Floris, according to
one source, after the prettiest girl in the neighborhood. Another story
relates that summer boarders near Frying Pan Post Office thought such a
lowly name would cause ridicule among their city friends. They called
the town Floris, which means "flower" in Latin, to tone up the image of
their warm weather "resort." By the time of the name change, the village
had expanded somewhat from an 1801 description of "four log huts and a
Meeting House,"[234] but it retained its small personal character. In
the 1920s and 1930s it consisted of a blacksmith shop, general store and
post office, a boarding house, three churches and two schools, as well
as the surrounding farms.

* * * * *

The focal point of the Floris community during this period, and the
factor which gave it a countywide importance, was the Floris Vocational
High School. The school was the result of the Smith-Hughes Act, passed
in 1917 to organize agriculture and home economics courses on the
secondary level of education. H. B. Derr tried unsuccessfully for two
years to establish such a course in Fairfax County but met with little
support from the members of the school board, who favored traditional
academics. It was finally through the farmer's clubs and community
leagues (forerunners of the PTA), especially those in the Floris area,
that Derr was able to convince the county of the program's potential. By
1919 farmers and merchants had donated some $17,000 to start
construction of a building, and in honor of the special efforts of
agriculturalists in Floris, it was decided to locate the school
there.[235]

[Illustration: A sketch of the plot of land originally deeded to the
school board in 1876 by George Kenfield for a Floris school. Fairfax
County Deedbook H-5, p. 617.]

[Illustration: Mr. Jack Walker, the engineer in charge of the
construction of the Floris School 1920. Copy of photo in Virginiana
Collection, Fairfax County Public Library.]

[Illustration: Floris Vocational High School under construction, c.
1920. Note the tennis game being played in the front of the old
building. Copy of photo in Virginiana Collection, Fairfax County Public
Library.]

The Floris Vocational High School was the third to be built in
Virginia.[236] It was extended from an existi