A decorated Union Captain during the Civil War built the Broadview, an Arlington house that earned historic district designation.
On September 22, 1832, Robert Stinson Lacey was born in Harrison County, Ohio. He was a decorated Union Captain during the Civil War and settled in what will become Arlington County to build Broadview, a house that earned historic district designation.
Captain Lacey led a company that took part in the siege of Cincinnati and campaigns in Kentucky in 1861. He later became the Assistant Quartermaster in 1864. During the same year, Lacey purchased the property in what is now Arlington. The land was previously owned by Augustus and Jacob Schneider, who operated a profitable iron foundry in the DC area and used the Virginia property as a farm or investment property.
Soon afterward, Lacey was appointed a superintendent in the Bureau of Refugees, Freedman, and Abandoned Lands in Lynchburg. Congress established this bureau near the war's end to distribute confiscated Confederate lands, provide clothing, food, and fuel to formerly enslaved people, and later provide education and settle labor disputes.
After mustered out of the military in 1866, Lacey eventually settled in DC and joined his brother’s law firm. In the 1870s, he purchased more land adjacent to the old Schneider property. But he lived in DC until 1881, probably using the property as a market farm and a weekend getaway—easily accessible by railroad.
In 1881, he built the house at 5151 14th Street, North, in the Waycroft-Woodlawn neighborhood, and he named it Broadview, where he lived until his death. Several generations of Lacey's relatives lived there until 1977. The land was gradually subdivided. The remaining lot with the house was sold to the current owners in 2011, who have served as stewards of the historic home. They applied successfully to the county, and the house is now listed as a historic district, thus preserving it for future generations.
Robert Lacey died in 1915 in Ballston and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, section 1, grave 682. Lacey Woods Park is named after his farm. His house reminds us of an earlier time, Lacey’s role in the Civil War, and his part in building Arlington. It also reminds us that current preservation efforts can and do work.
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