'An Attack on the Community': 10 Years Later

Ten years ago, on March 26, 2001, an act of arson destroyed the Dale City Neighborhood Library and closed it down for over eight months.

The fire department told news sources at the time that it was “an attack on the community.”

The Potomac News reported that a flammable liquid, probably gasoline, was poured into the overnight book drop at the library and set on fire about 4:00 a.m. The flames were extinguished very quickly by Dale City volunteer firefighters, but the fire caused extensive damage to the building and the heat and smoke ruined thousands of books. The library did not have a sprinkler system at the time.

“We lost everything—shelving, books, just everything,” Virginia Dorkey, then the deputy director of administration for Prince William libraries, told local news sources. The damage was initially estimated at $100,000. Jennifer Harden, the current library supervisor, said she does not believe the arsonist was ever caught.

At that time, the Dale City Neighborhood Library had been open for 15 years and was known to be one of the busiest of the county’s neighborhood libraries with a collection of about 35,000 books.

Now, 10 years later, the library website says its collection comprises of about 26,000 items as well as computer stations available to the public for internet use. As before, the library’s story hours for children are very popular and the library has many community volunteers working alongside the handful of paid staff to run the library.

Next week, Dale City Patch will take a look at where the library has come in the last 10 years and how it made its comeback.