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The tavern was extended westward by a Capt. Rizin Willcoxon and subsequently bought by the Allisons. An 1837 inventory shows there was a store, a cellar, a granary, a bar, kitchen, parlour, dining room, tailor's shop, sky parlour, and at least twelve bedrooms in the tavern. Capt.
Offices were located in Alexandria, Annandale, Fairfax Court House, Centreville, Gainesville, Haymarket and Thoroughfare. The price of a message to Alexandria was 15 cents, to any other point 10 cents; there was no charge for the answer. Messages were limited to five minutes. The first phone in Fairfax was installed in the Willcoxon Tavern. Here the town people could go to make or receive calls.
As the reconstruction period came after the war, Fairfax found herself in a very destitute position. Most of her churches had been burned, her fields destroyed by constant skirmishes, her homes used as headquarters or hospitals by Union soldiers. The Willcoxon Tavern, Duncan's Chapel and doubtless other places had been used as stables for Union horses.
On October 1, 1861, President Jefferson Davis with General Joseph E. Johnston, Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard and General Gustavus W. Smith met at the Willcoxon Tavern to confer regarding the success of the First Battle of Manassas. They decided that the Confederates were in no condition to take advantage of their success and begin an offensive against Washington.
Willcoxon, who was a relative and friend of Richard Ratcliffe, built the addition to the tavern out of bricks kilned by slaves. The foundation of the Willcoxon home on Route 237 was also built of bricks from the same kiln. This home was named "Blenheim." The name of Union soldiers who occupied the house during the Civil War can be found etched on the walls of its attic.
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