| Maryland (Montgomery County), Glen Echo — Glen Echo From Past to Present |
| | For more than 100 years this land, now Glen Echo Park, has been dedicated to the people: first in 1891 as a National Chautauqua Assembly, a center where people could participate in the sciences, arts, languages, and literature; second in 1899 as a famous amusement park; and finally in 1971, again as a park emphasizing arts and cultural education for the community.
Now, as a National Park Service cultural and historic site, Glen Echo Park visitors may dance in the historic Spanish Ballroom, . . . — Map (db m380) HM |
| Maryland (Montgomery County), Glen Echo — 1921 |
| | The Dentzel carousel came to the park in 1921 as a replacement for a smaller carousel. Built in the Philadelphia style, the hand-carved, wooden animals create a menagerie type featuring rabbits, ostriches, a giraffe, a lion, a tiger and a deer in addition to horses and two chariots. — Map (db m3224) HM |
| Maryland (Montgomery County), Glen Echo — Trolley Parks In America |
| | The Early Trolley Park.
In 1888 in Richmond, Virginia, Frank Sprague revolutionized American travel with his invention of the electric trolley. A new fast and economical transportation dawned. Suburban communities, like Glen Echo, soon opened up along many trolley lines. Along with a revolution of transportation came a new means of entertainment, the trolley park. Trolley parks were usually owned and operated by the transit company. They provided an incentive for evening and weekend . . . — Map (db m24185) HM |
| Maryland (Montgomery County), Glen Echo — Glen Echo Park’s Crystal Pool |
| | For the trolley parks of the 1900’s, pools were important, lucrative attractions. They provided a place for people to swim without having to travel the long miles to the beach. One such pool, Kennywood Park Pool in Pittsburgh, opened in 1925 and was once the site of the Miss Pittsburgh Pageant. Palisades Amusement Park’s “Surf Bathing” pool (1913) was America’s largest salt-water pool! Along with the Crystal Pool, these pools provided a perfect setting for many amazing memories.
. . . — Map (db m3227) HM |
| Maryland (Montgomery County), Glen Echo — c. 1931 |
| | In the midst of the Great Depression, the Crystal Pool provided a haven. It was big enough for 3,000 swimmers and featured a sand beach. The Art Deco style of the pool became Glen Echo’s new look. — Map (db m3229) HM |
| Maryland (Montgomery County), Glen Echo — The Roller Coasters of Glen Echo Amusement Park |
| | Roller Coasters.
The first primitive version of a roller coaster called the “Flying Mountain” emerged in Russia in the 1400’s. Americans encountered their first taste of a roller coaster-like thrill ride in 1827 when Josiah White constructed the Mauch Chunk Railway, better known as the Gravity Road. The Gravity Road came to be a thrill ride by accident since its original purpose was to transport coal 9 miles downhill to the town of Mauch Chunk in Pennsylvania. Soon the run . . . — Map (db m3226) HM |
| Maryland (Montgomery County), Glen Echo — 1921 |
| | The Coaster Dips came to the park in 1921. Higher climbs and deeper dips added over the next 48 years guaranteed the ride remained a favorite. The roller coaster was dismantled after the park closed in 1968. — Map (db m3214) HM |
| Maryland (Montgomery County), Glen Echo — The Glen Echo Park Yurts |
| | How they got here and what goes on inside them.
Yurts Around the World. These interesting and unusual buildings function as studios and classrooms in Glen Echo Park. Yurts have a long history. In Mongolia, yurts have been practical homes for thousands of years. In fact the word yurt means "homeland" or "domain." To nomadic herders of the steppes they were the ideal mobile home. They were portable, strong, and could be insulated from the high winds of the Asian Steppe. Consisting . . . — Map (db m37571) HM |
| Maryland (Montgomery County), Glen Echo — Glen Echo’s Art Deco Arcade |
| | Beginning in 1940, a new Art Deco arcade was added to Glen Echo park. Designed by the firm of Edward Schoeppe of Philadelphia, also the chief architect of the Crystal Pool and Spanish Ballroom, the arcade was constructed in stages from 1940 to 1958.
A New Entrance.
The new entrance, built in 1940, greeted visitors getting off the trolley with an 11-foot high Glen Echo Park green neon sign supported by 48-foot pylons.
Fun Along The Arcade.
A new Art Deco arcade was built . . . — Map (db m3231) HM |
| Maryland (Montgomery County), Glen Echo — The Changing Face of Glen Echo |
| | Lost Attractions.
From its beginnings as a National Chautauqua to its years as an amusement park, Glen Echo has experienced countless changes. Some of the old Glen Echo Park remains, but much of it has not survived. Many old amusements, like the Whip, Crystal Pool, and the Coaster Dips no longer exist. But perhaps the most amazing of these lost entertainments was the Chautauqua Amphitheater, later known as “The Funhouse.”
The Chautauqua Amphitheater.
When Edward . . . — Map (db m3228) HM |
| Maryland (Montgomery County), Glen Echo — A Trolley Returns to Glen Echo |
| | Development of Trolleys. Electric trolleys were introduced to the United States in 1888 in Richmond, Virginia, and quickly became the predominant mode of public transportation used throughout the first third of the 20th century. These vehicles ran more efficiently than horse and cable cars, and changed people's perception of speed and distance. Nearly all cities built trolley lines.
They carried people to work and to their homes, and stimulated the development of suburban communities . . . — Map (db m306) HM |
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