In 1863, during the Civil War, Pennsylvanian Herman Haupt, a noted bridge designer and superintendent of Union military railroads, commissioned John Devereux, the railroad superintendent in Alexandria, to build a siding on the Orange & Alexandria R. R. on this site, later known as Devereux Station. The station was located on a wartime siding of the Orange & Alexandria Railroad that supplied wood to fuel trains running on the important line. The railroad drove deep into Central Virginia, giving easy access to Union troops and supplies. The O&A was also the target of frequent Confederate raids. When a passenger station was built in 1868, the name was changed to Clifton Station. The station spurred the development of Clifton as a commercial and resort community.
SOURCE: Fairfax County, Virginia