By Elizabeth Sheehy

When a corner of Lyon Park was given over to the community in 1925, a gift from the developer Lyon
& Fitch for the sole purpose of building a community center, there were a number of restrictions applied to the deed. Some of these “specifications” would positively impact the community and remain part of our best practices today. The restriction against activities on the site causing a nuisance to the neighborhood, and the commitment to maintaining a quality building (which, in 1925, demanded a building costing at least $4,000) ensure the neighborhood and the community house can co-exist peacefully. Of course, today we are appalled by the racial restrictions that were included on the deed, common to many deeds throughout Virginia in the 1920s. The covenants were ruled unenforceable by the Supreme Court in 1948 (Shelley v Kramer) and are prohibited by Virginia’s Fair Housing Law. 

One final specification for transferring the land to the Lyon Park Community Center trustees in 1925 was a strict alcohol prohibition. This restriction was superfluous, as the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1919, and alcohol was prohibited everywhere. It seems that Frank Lyon, a temperance activist, was taking no chances and layered on the restriction regardless. Sure enough, by the 1930s, the nation had had enough and Prohibition ended with the Twenty-first Amendment in 1933.

There was definitely an adjustment period in Lyon Park once alcohol was publicly permitted again. At the May 27, 1935 Board of Governors meeting, the viability of holding dances was brought up. “It was reported that two persons had apparently imbibed too much “joy water” at the last dance and were rather hard to deal with.” It was decided that a chaperone would be required at all dances in the future. Still, on paper the restriction of alcohol in the Lyon Park Community House remained. It would take another four decades until action was taken. On May 14, 1974, the Board of Governors informed the three LPCC trustees that they had voted to officially rescind the “prohibition of intoxicants” in the Lyon Park Community House.

As we celebrate the annual Lyon Park Spring Fair on May 18, we will also gather together as a community to enjoy the Food Truck Festival. And while we are celebrating, we can soberly and joyfully raise a glass to this wonderful and inclusive neighborhood of Lyon Park, celebrating fifty years since the end of the LPCC’s prohibition. Please drink your joy-water responsibly!

Thank you to Laureen Daly for finding this wonderful joy-water note in the Lyon Park archives during a recent document sorting party!