Annandale Retrospective
The Year was 1975   MORE ANNANDALE RETROSPECTIVE & HISTORY

By:  M. Callahan

GOVERNMENT

Us President:  Gerald Ford (R)
Vice President:  Nelson Rockefeller (R)
VA Governor:  Mills E. Godwin, Jr. (R)
US Senators from VA: Harry F. Byrd, Jr. (I) & William L. Scott (R)
Chief Justice US Supreme Court:  Warren Burger
Speaker of the House:  Carl Albert (D)

MAJOR EVENTS

  • Saigon falls to the North Vietnamese on April 30th.
  • The Soviet Union scores the first unmanned soft landing on Venus.
  • Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa disappears in Detroit.
  • Genocide and repression begin in Cambodia under Pol Pot.  He empties thecapitol of nearly 3 million people marching them to retraining camps and death.
  • Following Gen. Franco’s death, Juan Carlos I is reinstated to the Spanish Throne.
  • The Age Discrimination in Employment Act is passed by Congress November 28th.
  • Dow Jones Ave. closed Dec. 31st at 858.71 up from 616.24 at the end of 1974.
  • Pres. Ford pardons Robert E. Lee, restoring full rights of citizenship.
  • Margaret Thatcher defeats Edward Heath.
  • Watergate conspirators are sentenced between 6 months and 8 years.
  • Disco is the new musical craze.
  • Microsoft is founded.
  • Lyme Disease is identified at Lyme, CT
  • The 99 yr. old Coast Guard Academy admits its first women students.

AWARDS & PRIZES 

  • Pulitzer Prize:  Michael Shaara for The Killer Angels
  • Nobel Prize for Literature: Eugenio Montale
  • Nobel Peace Prize Winner:  Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharow
  • Miss America:  Shirley Cothran (Denton, TX)
  • Best Picture of the Year: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
  • Best Actor:   Jack Nicholson
  • Best Actress: Louise Fletcherest Actress
  • Emmy:  Cicely Tysons for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.  

SPORTS

  • NCAA Basketball Champion:  UCLA
  • Stanley Cup Winner:  Philadelphia Flyers
  • College Football Champion:  Oklahoma
  • Heisman Trophy Winner:  Archie Griffin from Ohio State
  • US Open Winner:  Lou Graham
  • Pro Football Champions:  Pittsburgh Steelers 16 v New Orleans 6
  • World Series Champion:  Cincinnati Reds (4) v Boston Red Sox (3)
  • Heavy Weight Boxing Title:  Muhammad Ali
  • Indianapolis 500 Winner:  Bobby Unser
  • Wimbledon Singles Champions:  Arthur Ashe and Billy Jean King  

EVERYDAY LIFE

  • Busch Gardens opens in Williamsburg.
  • Saturday Night Live premiers on TV.
  • Favorite TV programs:  Rich Man, Poor Man &The Bionic Woman
  • Golfer Lee Elder is 1st African American to play in the Master’s Tournament.
  • Giorgio Armani, 39, establishes his fashion business in Milan.
  • Patricia Hearst is apprehended by FBI & held on bank robbery charges.
  • Amana Touchmatic Radarange is the 1st microwave oven that permits programming.
  • Hourly wages for US production workers ave. $6.22 up from $3.15 in 1965.
  • Dow Jones Ave. closes Dec. 31st at 858.71 up from 616.24 at the end of 1974.
  • Gold prices fall to below $140 per ounce.
  • World Population: 4.1 billion
  • US Population:  213 million
  • Cost of a new house:  $39,300
  • Average Income:  $14,816
  • New Car:  $4,225.00
  • Average Rent:  $200.00 per month
  • Tuition to Harvard U.:  $3,400 per year
  • Movie ticket:  $2.00 each
  • Gasoline:   $.44 per gallon
  • US Postage Stamp:  $.13
  • Gallon of milk:  $1.57
  • Eggs:  $.47 per dozen
  • Ground Hamburger:  $.75 per pound
  • Bread:  $.36 per loaf
  • Bacon:  $.95 per pound
  • Coffee:  $1.10 per pound
  • Life Expectancy 72.6 years

MOST POPULAR MOVIES:

  • Jaws
  • The Man Who Would Be King
  • Dog Day Afternoon
  • Monty Python and the Holy Grail

BIRTHS: 

  • Drew Barrymore
  • Tiger Woods
  • Angelina Jolie
  • Kate Winslet

DEATHS

  • Chiang Kai-shek
  • Gen. Francisco Franco
  • Ozzie Nelson
  • Haile Selassie
  • Casey Stengel

 

Annandale in 1975:  Population 64,000
Annandale
Retail Establishments Special offers...

  • Banks continue to compete for business offering incentives and contests to attract and retain customers.
  • Suburban Savings & Loan:  Holds a contest in July with a 1st prize of a $1,500 gift certificate at Lord & Taylor’s, 2nd prize is $100 a month for a year along with 28 additional prizes ranging from calculators to digitals clocks to leather tote bags. Interest rates on Certificates of Deposit ranged from 6% to 8.17%.
  • Dave Pyles Lincoln-Mercury:  VW Bug ’74 am/fm radio & sunroof $2,895.
  • Peoples Drug:  8 track Sound Sterio $59.99.
  • K-Mart:  RCA 25” Color TV $499.  Philco 22” B7W TV $166. 8 Track tape player $34.44.
  • Miller Pharmacy: (3012 Annandale Rd.) Blue Ridge Mountain Spring Water 2.5 gallons $1.95.  This spring water had been bottled since 1741.
  • July 1975:  Local Theatres: Annandale Theatre featured The Eigner Sanction with Clint Eastwood.  Bradlick Theatre showed Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and Roths Americana at Heritage showed Robert Redford in The Great Waldo Pepper.  Average ticket price was $2.50.  Two of the blockbuster movies of 1975 were The Towering Inferno and Airport 1975.
  • Wolf Trap featured Kismet.  $2.00 to $8.50.
  • Lee Highway Drive featured a triple Disney night. $1.00 per child
  • Kennedy Center, Eisenhower Theatre, hosted Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. in Present Laughter.  $4.50-9.50.

Real Estate Sales in Annandale:

7607 Heritage Dr. $45,950.
7311 Valleycrest Blvd. $46,500.
5010 Fleming Dr. $73,5000
8404 Kenan Ct. $88,500.
4333 Duncan Dr. $60,000.
7304 Franklin Rd. $49,500.

LOCAL NEWS:  1975-1980:

  • The George Mason Library expanded to 3 times its original size in 1974.  This is the third library to be located in Annandale since 1955.
  • Jean Packard, Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, a 25 year resident of Elizabeth Lane, Annandale is defeated in November by jack Herrity.  Jean served as Chairman from Jan. 1972 to Jan.1976.
  • Charles Fegan of Annandale was named the Director of the Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind.
  • In a redistricting, the Annandale District loses 2 eastern voting precincts to Mason District and gained 4 in West Springfield.  Audrey Moore was the Annandale Supervisor. The reason for redistricting was to reduce the wide population difference created by rapid growth since 1970 causing a vast disparity between the Districts.
  • Fairfax County Schools receive a $250 million budget.
  • Green Spring Farm Estate Manor House became headquarters to the Fairfax County Council of the Arts.
  • Annandale Elementary School Closes due to a declining enrollment of only 350.  It was built in 1927.
  • Lawrence P. Tu, 21, of Annandale won a Rhodes Scholarship.  He held a 3.8 academic average at Harvard
  • July 21, 1975:  Sixteen people were struck by lighting at the backyard picnic of Cary Ritttenhouse of 4501 Hillbrook Drive, Annandale about 3:30 pm.  Several were knocked unconscious when a single bolt of lighting hit a 40 foot maple tree.  Some received burns to their legs, shoulders and backs.

For More History Articles

 

For more photos and the entire story, please see ENDEAVOR, April 2009 on this website.  

(Copyright © 2012 Annandale Chamber of Commerce. All rights reserved.  (Photographs & images, on this page, and on this website, are not available for use by other publications, blogs, individuals, websites, or social media sites.)

 

The State Theatre, Broad Street, Falls Church, VAThe Backlick Theatre, Backlick Shopping Center, Annandale (where Gold's Gym now resides)

Green Spring Gardens:  Historic Manor House

The Packard Center is the former residence of Jean Packard, and now home to Artisans United at the Annandale Community Park, one block off Hummber Road, Annandale.

 

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