A portrait of Vienna's first mayor hangs in the Town Council Chamber, more than a century after his death.

Mayor Linda Colbert and Town Clerk Shelley Kozlowski unveiled the portrait of Orrin Hine at the Monday, Oct. 5 regular Town Council meeting, which began at 6:30 p.m. at Charles Robinson Jr. Town Hall. The Town of Vienna announced the unveiling on social media that evening. The town described the portrait on its Facebook page as 127 years in the making.

Hine served as mayor from 1890, when a village of about 300 people incorporated as the Town of Vienna, until his death in 1899. He was the only mayor the young town knew for its first nine years.

His roots in Vienna ran deeper than the office. Hine settled in the area in 1866 as a Freedmen's Bureau agent, according to the town's official history. The town describes him as a radical Republican, farmer and realtor who by 1885 owned a great deal of real estate. The Knights of Columbus Vienna council puts his landholdings at about 6,500 acres across the Vienna and Oakton area.

Hine's civic record extended well beyond the mayor's seat. After the Civil War, he deeded a tenth of an acre to a Black congregation, according to the Knights of Columbus account. He also gave them access to salvaged lumber from decommissioned Army barracks to build a church.

He testified in favor of Virginia's state public school law of 1870, the town's history notes, making him an early advocate for public education in the region.

Hine died Sept. 19, 1899, at age 76. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

The portrait unveiling was one of several ceremonial moments at the Oct. 5 meeting. Colbert and the Town Council also presented a check for nearly $7,500 to Historic Vienna, Inc., the town said on social media. The funds were raised through sales of the town's holiday ornament, with proceeds supporting ViennaVA250.

The next regular Town Council meeting is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m. at Charles Robinson Jr. Town Hall, 127 Center St. South.