| 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 — 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 — A Heroine's Home |
| | Beyond the trees stands a Victorian House as unique as its owner. This house was built for Clara Barton in 1891 by Edward and Edwin Baltzley as part of the National Chautauqua at Glen Echo. With 30 rooms serving as offices, bedrooms, and storage, the house served as a home for Miss Barton and her staff, a warehouse for supplies, and the first permanent headquarters for the American Red Cross. Clara Barton's house is a testament to her character; from her frugality in covering the ceilings with . . . — Map (db m45000) HM |
| Maryland (Montgomery County), Glen Echo — A Life of Service — (Clara Barton) |
| | "You have never known me without work;
while able, you never will." —Clara Barton
Clara Barton lived a life that transcended limitations. She built a career of humanitarian service in a society that did not grant her full rights because of her gender.
When Clara Barton moved into this house in 1897, she was 75 years old and had gained international fame for her work in the Civil War. After the war, Clara Barton traveled to Europe where she learned about the . . . — Map (db m45245) 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 |
| Maryland (Montgomery County), Glen Echo — c. 1926 |
| | Known in the 1920’s as The Skooter and in the 1930’s as the Dodgem, Glen Echo Park’s bumper car ride was one of the first in any amusement park in the world.
The Art Deco facade was added in the 1930’s.
Today’s rehabilitated Bumper Car Pavilion hosts hundreds of dances and events each year. — Map (db m3230) 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 — Glen Echo Civil Rights Protest |
| | On June 30, 1960 African Americans Gwendolyn Greene (Britt), William Griffin, Michael Proctor, Marvous Saunders and Cecil Washington Jr. were arrested when they attempted to ride Glen Echo Park's Dentzel Carousel and were charged with trespassing on private property. Part of a college-based civil rights group called the Non-violent Action Group (N. A. G.), the five sit-in demonstrators were protesting the long-standing segregation policies of the privately-owned amusement park.
A . . . — Map (db m30484) HM |
| 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 — Glen Echo Park c. 1930 |
| | The entrance to Glen Echo Park has undergone many changes. The 1940 art deco design has been restored, but prior entrances included a stone entrance in the 1890's with the early trolley lines in front and the 1911 entrance, which featured numerous lightbulbs and two towers, and was in place for 30 years. — Map (db m5754) HM |
| Maryland (Montgomery County), Glen Echo — Glen Echo Park: Aerial View c. 1954 |
| | Among the familiar structures in this aerial photo are old attractions - the Fun House, Coaster Dips, Crystal Pool, and Flying Scooter. Still present in the park today are the Ballroom, the Arcade and the Dentzel Carousel as well as other smaller structures. — Map (db m5752) HM |
| Maryland (Montgomery County), Glen Echo — Glen Echo Park: Chautaugua c. 1891 |
| | The Chautaugua Program at Glen Echo opened June 16, 1891 and offered classes and lectures in all areas of the liberal and practical arts. The education program ran for only one year, but the buildings were used by the amusement park for decades. The Stone Tower is the only Chautaugua structure that remains intact today.
Caption of photo in the upper right hand corner of the marker
The Ampitheater was the main assembly hall and centerpiece of the 1891 Chautaugua. — Map (db m5753) HM |
| Maryland (Montgomery County), Glen Echo — Glen Echo Park: Protest Years 1960 |
| | On June 30, 1960 local university students and citizens began a sit-in confrontation and picket line to challenge the long-standing segregation policies at the Park. Their efforts succeeded in 1961 when the Park's private owner, Rekab, Inc., finally opened the doors to all races.
Caption of photo in upper left hand corner of marker
The demonstrators included national figures, local residents and student activists.
Caption of photo at bottom center of marker . . . — Map (db m5750) HM |
| Maryland (Montgomery County), Glen Echo — Glen Echo Park: Spanish Ballroom c. 1943 |
| | Social dancing has been an important attraction at Glen Echo since the 1890's. The Spanish Garden Ballroom, built in 1933 in the Spanish Mission Revival style of architecture, boasted a 7,000 square-foot maple dance floor, colorful columns and red roof tiles. Many famous dance bands of the day performed in the exotic space.
Caption of photo in upper right hand corner of marker
Dancers pack the Ballroom on a warm night in 1943. The picnic grove was a popular place to cool off and socialize during the dance break. — Map (db m5751) 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 — 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 — The Clara Barton House |
| | Early headquarters of the American Red Cross and home of Clara Barton, founder and First President, who lived here until her death in 1912. Located just south of this marker, the house had an unusual interior of Steamboat Gothic design with railed galleries and a suspended captain's room. — Map (db m303) 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 — 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 — 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 |
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