By Page Johnson, HFCI Board Member
The house we know as the Sisson House stands on the 10-acre campus of Fairfax City Hall. The earliest portion of this house was constructed c. 1845 and was owned by members of my paternal grandmothers family, the Sissons, from 1869 to 1928.
From this location, Robert T. Sisson (1790-1873) and his son, Robert L. Sisson (1828-1903), operated a stage line. For nearly 40 years they carried passengers and mail to and from Fairfax Court House to the Fairfax Station twice a day.
The property left the Sisson family in 1928. In 1956, the property was acquired by Jim and Shirley Draper. The Drapers were natives of Connecticut, having met at the University of Connecticut in 1941. James L. Draper (1916-2010) was an Economics major and President of his class in 1939. Shirley (Apeling) Draper (1919-2000) was a Sociology major and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
After college, Jim joined the United States Army and was an Infantry/Intelligence Officer serving in the Burma-China Theater with Merrill’s Marauders during WWII. After the war, Jim was posted to Washington, DC. Shirley was a Fairfax High School history teacher and guidance counselor from 1962 to 1980. Both were members of the Historical Society of Fairfax County. In 1990, the Drapers, who had retired to Connecticut, sold their property to the City of Fairfax.
Many are unaware that the Drapers acquired great wealth over a lifetime of saving, investing, and being thrifty. After Shirley Draper’s death in 2000, Jim Draper donated $1.5 million to the University of Connecticut for the establishment the James L. and Shirley A. Draper Chair of American History. Additionally, the James L. and Shirley A. Draper Lecture Hall of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences was named in their honor.
Following Shirley’s death, Jim Draper continued his support of the University of Connecticut and other charities, primarily those based in Connecticut. After his death in 2010, it become public that the Drapers were among the largest benefactors in the history of the University of Connecticut.
Jim’s obituary reads, in part,
“To friends and family, Jim and Shirley’s true legacy is their humility and gracious friendship. They started, as many Connecticut natives who sacrified their early years…; he in battle and she on the home front, sometimes not knowing for a year at a time if Jim was alive, and if they would be reunited. Both spent their last years [together] continuing to live the philosophy that love is service.”
My office faces the Sisson House (aka Draper House) and I look out over this beautiful scene every day. This little oasis in Fairfax City reminds me how very fortunate we all are, and also how exceptional it is that in a community of more than 1.2 million people, my family roots lay deep under the now urban/suburban landscape of modern Fairfax City and County.
To learn more about Sisson House and the City Hall site visit:
https://www.historicfairfax.org/…/2012/05/HFCI24-2004.pdf
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