Alexandria has a long history of residents who moved here from Central and South America. Beginning in the 1980s, a large community from El Salvador settled in the neighborhood we now call “Chirilagua,” after the city in El Salvador of the same name.

Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM) takes place September 15 to October 15 every year as a time to recognize and celebrate the many contributions, diverse cultures, and extensive histories of the American Latino community.

Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15 because it is the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September18, respectively. 

Learn more from a collaborative project of the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

Celebrate in Alexandria

Read transcriptions of interviews with people who immigrated to Alexandria. Some of these interviews were conducted as part of Immigrant Alexandria: Past, Present and Future, a project funded by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.

• Miguel Blancas (Mexico)
• Rodrigo A. Guajardo (Chile)
• Priscilla Izar (Brazil)
• Myriam Lechuga (Cuba)
• Onelio Mencho-Aguilar (Guatemala)
• German Mejia (El Salvador)
• Nora Partlow (Cuba)
• Evelin Urrutia (El Salvador)

As part of the 2020-2021 Arlandria-Chirilagua Planning process, Environmental Research Group, LLC (ERG) conducted a study to document historic and cultural resources in the Arlandria neighborhood to inform the overall Plan. The report is comprised of a cultural history, transcribed oral history interviews with residents, and collected data on points of interest, cultural landscapes, and neighborhood themes through 2020, including COVID-19 and social justice protests.

This booklet, in English and Spanish, includes highlights from the full study.

“Out of the Attic” is published each week in the Alexandria Times newspaper. These articles appear with the permission of the Alexandria Times and were authored by staff of the Office of Historic Alexandria and invited guests. 

The power of neighboring in Chirilagua
September 30, 2021
This column is by guest authors Adriana Gómez Schellhaas and Juan Martínez Ovalle.

Domingo Sarmiento's visit to Washington
September 23, 2021
This column is by guest author Enrique Pumar, Ph.D.

Julio Duran: The role of Impacto
October 3, 2019