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Long before it became Marymount’s main campus, the University’s land in North Arlington was owned by Admiral Presley M. Rixey (1852-1928) \u2014 a d<\/span>istinguished figure in local and national history, and a naval surgeon general and personal physician to Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt.<\/p>\n The property on which the current main campus of Marymount University sits today, then called \u2018Netherfauld,\u2019 was purchased by Rixey in 1888. President Roosevelt often came and visited Rixey as they rode on horseback through the many acres of rural lands on the property. Meanwhile, Mrs. Roosevelt would frequently walk from the White House to Netherfauld to have lunch with Mrs. Rixey.<\/p>\n A key advocate for the Washington Golf & Country Club, Rixey sold 75 acres of his property in 1908 to the organization, ensuring it a permanent home in the region. It was later discovered that there weren’t enough acres included for the completion of a swimming pool, so a member of the Country Club\u2019s board of trustees challenged Rixey to a golf match over the desired property. Rixey lost and honored the deal by graciously signing over the additional land. The admiral also gave away some of his land in 1925 for the construction of St. Mary\u2019s Episcopal Church, which sits adjacent to Marymount\u2019s main campus on North Glebe Road.<\/p>\n The University’s iconic Administration Building, now a cornerstone feature of Marymount\u2019s campus, was built by Rixey around 1920 to serve as his mansion residence after his previous farmhouse had burned down. He lived there until his death in 1928, after which his family leased out the mansion and surrounding property during the summers to notable occupants that included a secretary of the German Embassy.<\/p>\n The estate then went through a series of owners, including Ida Polen \u2013 who bought the property in 1936 and operated a tea house called \u2018Rixey\u2019 in the mansion for 12 years. In 1948, the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary (RSHM) order acquired the land that included the mansion, stone guest house (The Lodge) and two cottages. They established a junior college on the property in 1950 that would grow into Marymount University, a thriving and modern residential campus today.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Long before it became Marymount’s main campus, the University’s land in North Arlington was owned by Admiral Presley M. Rixey (1852-1928) \u2014 a distinguished figure in local and national history, and a naval surgeon general and personal physician to Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. The property on which the current main campus of Marymount University sits […]<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/marymount.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/rixey4-e1653663701917.jpeg\")
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