By most standards the history of Tysons Corner (as it was originally called and referred to up until 2015 and now just officially called Tysons) is incredibly short as compared to the famous cities of the United States.  Before it was know as Tysons Corner that general area was informally referred to as Peach Grove due to the Peach farms in the area and likely an owner or visitors naming it as such.  In the mid 1800's a former congressman by the name of A. Lawrence Foster of New York owned a farm in this area.  A gentleman by the name of William Tyson (originally from Cecil County Maryland) moved to Peach Grove, purchased the land from Congressman Foster, and ended up becoming the Postmaster of the same named US Post Office (est. 1851).  So Tysons eventually got it's name due to the precense and well known resident of William Tyson.

Basically before 1962 (a watermark in Tysons development) there was really not much of anything other than a crossroads of Rt. 7 and Rt. 123 along with a few buildings such as a country store. Up until this time Tysons Corner lands were owned by a select few landowners and mostly farmland.  Tysons Corner was mostly a crossroads, gas stop, or food/drink break for travellers going or coming from the west.  The nations capital is only about 15 miles away but at that time seemed a world away as the road system was pretty basic.  In the early 60's the the Capital Beltway was nearing full completion and Tysons sat smack in the middle of this road segment.  It was in 1962 that the Fairfax County County Board of Supervisors approved the development of the then-new shopping mall at a cost of $20 million. This decision on that date would proove to be the catalyst for the shaping of Tysons, it's development, and popularity among developers.