WT Woodson High School,

The size of the site was, and remains, the largest school campus in Fairfax County. Two farm buildings remain: the white house known as "Woodson House" and the one-time dairy barn still used by the county maintenance department.

The original cost of building W. T. Woodson was $3,300,000, a bargain by today’s standards. A unique feature of the new high school was a full planetarium of both the northern and southern hemispheres. Students from elementary and middle schools continue to visit the Woodson planetarium as part of their science curriculum. A vocational wing housed a program drawing students from all over the county for classes in auto mechanics, cosmetology, carpentry, veterinary science, and electricity. The vocational programs were gradually phased out over the years and students interested in such classes now attend Chantilly Academy, a professional technical center located at Chantilly High School. The original athletic facilities included two softball fields, a practice field, two baseball fields, a hockey field, a 5,000-seat stadium, and ten tennis courts. The stadium now seats 15,000.

The budget for the new school did not include money for stadium lighting. The entire community joined in a fund-raising plan called "The Light Brigade." Local businesses contributed so generously that for at least fifteen years Woodson school activities did not solicit funds from the Fairfax business establishment. Patrick J. Cunningham, the first Director of Athletics at WTW, led this massive fund-generating campaign. Within a year, the stadium was lighted. The stadium is now named the Patrick J. Cunningham Stadium. In 1962, the main gymnasium was considered huge, with a capacity of 1,400. In addition to the main gym, there was an auxiliary gym, then called "The Girl's Gym," and a "corrective exercise gym." During the 1998-99 school year, the gymnasium was named in honor of Paul "Red" Jenkins, a health and physical education teacher who coached basketball at WTW for thirty-five years. The auditorium, the largest in Northern Virginia at that time, had a capacity for 1,200. The auditorium is now called Bedinger Auditorium for long-time drama teacher Joan Bedinger. The W. T. Woodson High School originally opened its doors to 1,800 Cavaliers. By the 1965-66 school year, enrollment reached 3,300, including 150 minority students brought to Woodson as a result of the integration of schools.