Breeden, Irving Jackson

Irving Jackson Breeden was born in 1897, the third of fourteen children, to Nicholas Monroe Breeden and Rebecca Elilian Weeks. As a child, I.J.'s family moved a lot due to his father's position as a superintendent with the railroad. When I.J. was only 10 years old his father was killed in an explosion in Pittsburgh, PA. As a result, I.J. left school to help support his mother and younger siblings. Two years later, I.J.'s mother married his uncle, William A. Breeden. On 31 December 1919, Breeden married Jennie Thelma Purcell, the sixteen year old daughter of George A. & Rose E. Purcell. In 1928 Breeden moved from Manassas to Fairfax and started his own construction and building buisness. In 1939 Breeden's wife died and was buried in the Manassas Cemetery. Three years later, Breeden remarried to Hilda Moser. In 1947 he purchased the Portner estate Annaburg, which comprised nearly 2,000 acres located just outside of Manassas. With the choice of two historic mansions to live in, the Breedens opted for Liberia since it had been the home of the estate caretaker while Annaburg had been vacant for over twenty years. After his purchase, Breeden began to split the property into several subdivisions. Those parcels he did not sell off he used to build homes and apartments on. In 1954 the Manassas Shopping Center opened, located between Sudley Road and Liberia Avenue, and Portner Avenue and Mathis Avenue. Though he had said the Civil War fortification Fort Beauregard would be preserved, the Manassas Shopping Center ran through this site, uponwhich a bowling alley was built. Behind the shopping center, on the southeast and southwest corners of Liberia and Portner Avenues, Breeden built the Deer Park Apartments, the first large-scale apartment complex in the area. In 1986, the Breedens donated Liberia to the City of Manassas to be used as an historic house museum. After Breeden's death in 1991, his widow continued to operate and live in the Deer Park Apartment complex until her own death.