The Owens House: A Family Woven Into Manassas History

From the courthouse and telephone switchboard to “Pill Hill,” the story of 9305 Main Street reaches across generations of Manassas life

Manassas, Home to Home

Every historic home has a story.

Some were occupied by public officials, business owners, teachers, doctors or families whose contributions helped shape Manassas. Others hold quieter memories of children growing up, neighbors gathering and traditions passed from one generation to the next.

“Manassas, Home to Home” explores that history one property at a time. A home coming onto the market may prompt our research, but this is not primarily a real estate feature. It is an opportunity to preserve the stories behind the houses, the families who lived in them, and the community they helped build.

Our first featured property is the Owens House at 9305 Main Street.

The Owens House

The all-brick Cape Cod at 9305 Main Street was built in 1952 on nearly an acre in the heart of Old Town Manassas. Today, the house sits within walking distance of shops, restaurants, parks, the Harris Pavilion and the Virginia Railway Express.

Its importance, however, is not simply its architecture or location. The home is connected to the Owens and Trusler families, whose work touched nearly every part of mid-20th-century Manassas life.

Their story includes public service, law, banking, telephone service, neighborhood development and the everyday experiences of growing up in a small town where relatives lived nearby and people knew their neighbors.

Stanley Albert Owens

Stanley Albert Owens Sr. was born in Georgia in 1907 and moved to the Washington area in 1931. He became an attorney in Manassas and helped establish the firm that later became Owens, Underwood, Beane, Coppock and Becker.

In 1941, Owens was one of seven attorneys who founded the Prince William County Bar Association. Those seven men represented the county’s entire legal community at the time, and all maintained offices in or near Old Town Manassas. Owens later served as the association’s president in 1962.

He was elected Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney in 1944 and held the position until 1960. That year, he began serving in the Virginia House of Delegates. He represented the area through 1975 and retired from the General Assembly in 1976.

During his legislative career, Owens served on committees dealing with finance, transportation, regional development and the future of Northern Virginia.

He supported the promotion and development of Dulles International Airport and later served as vice chairman of a state commission studying the possible acquisition and future development of Dulles and National airports.

Owens also represented Prince William County on a regional advisory committee for George Mason College during the 1960s. The college was then affiliated with the University of Virginia and was expanding its role in Northern Virginia. It became the independent George Mason University in 1972.

These records support an important distinction: Owens did not personally create Dulles Airport or George Mason University, but he participated in the regional and legislative work that supported their growth.

The Trusler Family and a Local Bank

Stanley Owens married Janet Rebecca Trusler, a member of another well-established Manassas family.

Janet’s father, W.E. Trusler, was a founding director and the first vice president of the Federal Savings and Loan Association of Prince William County when it opened in March 1934. He later became president.

The institution eventually became Piedmont Federal Savings and Loan Association. Stanley Owens served as a director, president and general counsel.

Piedmont Federal helped local residents save money and finance homes during an important period of Manassas growth. It remained part of the community until its acquisition by Crestar Bank in 1994.

W.E. Trusler was also associated with Newman-Trusler Hardware Company, another part of early Manassas business history.

Janet Owens had her own record of community involvement. Local newspaper accounts show that she was elected president of the Manassas Junior Woman’s Club in 1937.

Growing Up on Main Street

Some of the warmest details about the family come from the recollections of Stanley and Janet’s daughter, Mary Oliver “Molly” Owens Parkinson.

Molly remembered growing up along Main Street in a much smaller Manassas. Aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents lived close by. Her grandmother, affectionately known as “Gummy,” hosted Sunday dinners, with the children expected to help set and clear the table.

Those memories describe a Manassas in which family life extended beyond the walls of a single home. Main Street was not simply an address. It was a neighborhood filled with relatives, familiar businesses and people who were part of one another’s daily lives.

Molly also worked summer shifts at the family’s local telephone company. From the switchboard, she manually connected calls between Manassas residents. A call to New York or overseas was rare enough to become an exciting event.

Before smartphones, area codes and instant communication, a young woman sitting at a Manassas switchboard helped neighbors reach one another.

Molly later graduated from Sweet Briar College and worked in cartography at National Geographic.

The Manassas Telephone Connection

Stanley Owens was a founder and president of Piedmont Telephone Company, which provided telephone service during an era when Manassas was transforming from a small town into a growing Northern Virginia community.

The company remained closely connected to the Owens family. Federal records show that control was transferred from Stanley and Janet Owens and their children, Molly and Stanley Jr., when the business was sold to Continental Telephone in 1971.

The story adds another dimension to the Owens House. The family was not only involved in government and law. It helped connect Manassas residents, sometimes one manually placed telephone call at a time.

Bunky Owens and a Growing Manassas

Stanley and Janet’s son, Stanley Albert “Bunky” Owens Jr., continued the family’s involvement in the development of Manassas and the surrounding region.

As president of the Owens Corporation, Bunky Owens developed residential neighborhoods and commercial properties in Manassas, Prince William County and Fauquier County.

His work included Owens Wood, commonly called “Owens Woods” by some longtime residents. Local children knew the neighborhood by another name: “Pill Hill.”

The playful nickname came from the number of physicians and other medical professionals who lived there. It became part of the informal geography of Manassas, the kind of name local children and longtime residents understood even if it never appeared on an official map.

Owens later developed Owens Brooke. City planning records identify Stanley A. Owens Jr. and the Owens Corporation in the development of that neighborhood during the 1980s.

His commercial projects also included property along Center Street. In 1988, Owens and fellow developer I.J. Breeden proposed a 36-hole miniature golf course on Mathis Avenue, adding another colorful connection to Manassas history.

A 1970 state report also lists Stanley A. Owens Jr. as a member of the Dulles International Airport Development Commission. Both father and son, in different ways, participated in the growth of the community and the larger Northern Virginia region.

More Than a House

The story of 9305 Main Street is not about one elected official or one prominent family member.

It is about a family whose history crossed generations and touched many parts of Manassas life.

Stanley Owens worked in the courthouse and the General Assembly. Janet Owens participated in community organizations. Her father helped establish a local savings and loan. Molly Owens connected neighbors from a telephone switchboard. Bunky Owens helped build neighborhoods where another generation of Manassas families would grow up.

Together, their history helps explain what has made Manassas unique: public service mixed with business, family traditions, neighborhood nicknames and memories that survive because local residents continue to tell them.

The Owens House is a reminder that the history of Manassas is not found only in museums, monuments and government records. Much of it remains inside the homes we pass every day.

About the Property

Address: 9305 Main Street, Manassas
Year built: 1952
Style: All-brick Cape Cod
Lot: Approximately 0.92 acre
Historic connection: The Owens and Trusler families

The property’s appearance on the market prompted this research. The Manassas Journal is featuring the home for its historical connection, not as an endorsement of the property or its sale.

Sources and Further Reading

Journal Note

“Manassas, Home to Home” combines public records, historical newspapers and the recollections of local residents. Neighborhood names and stories such as “Pill Hill” are identified as community oral history when they do not appear in formal government records.

Readers with photographs, documents or personal memories connected to the Owens family, the Owens House, Owens Wood or Owens Brooke are encouraged to contact the Manassas Journal at editor@manassasjournal.com.