Evening star., 1950-11-27
caring SGIen Echo Called Greatest Little Maryland Population
Amusement Center
Acquired ; Houses
In Postwar Boom
By George Kennedy

A@St OAS<AAsSs S4oAAS SSCo Wiz
trolley-ding, ding. ding goes the
bell" and we're off to Glen Echo
on the old open cars, with boys
standing on the running board
and grabbing leaves from the
trees as the car speeds through
the woods; with gimpses of the
canal and the Potomac flashing
by on the left.
Memory recalls that the lunch
in the basket with hinged covers
was sufficient for all, but every
one wanted to try that novelty
to the American palate, the
frankfurter, which inexplicably
came to be known as the hot deg;
that great bargain offered by the
barkers as:
"A loaf of bread and a pound
of meat-and all the mustard you
can eat, for a nickel. the Goth
part of dollar"
There were probably a couple of
quartered pies in the lunch basket
but everyone wanted that novelty
in sweets, ice cream in a cone
with the cone baked and rolled
into shape before ones very eyes.
And there was spun sugar in
all colors and apples dipped in a
red glaze and fun at every turn
for nickel or a dime.
Renewed Every Summer.
Mothers long skirts swept pea
nut shells along the asphalt as she
walked along the midway, getting
vicarious enjoyment from her
children's yelps of glee. Not even
that distant pleasure dome called
Coney Island had anything on
this. This was it.
Glen Echo is one of those mem
cries which can be renewed
every summer, for the old amuse-
ment park is still in business, as
every Washingtonian knows, and
the merry-go-round which played
"Madelon" during World War and
"Lili Marlene" during World War
II probably will be wheeling some
reminder of the Korean incident
by the time the park reopens in
the spring.
The park was started by Edwin
and Edward Baltzley, who came
here from Philadelphia in 1889
and bought 20 acres of land, ac-
cording to the researches of John
Clagett Proctor. The Stars local
historian. To them we owe its
splendid name. They called their
holding Glen Echo-on-the- -Po-
tomac" and they called the river
the washington Rhine"
Apparently they had in mind
high-class real estate develop
ment. The brothers, who were
twins. tried to set the pace by
building large stone homes with
round towers and conical roofs
reminiscent of the castles of the
Rhine. But in this they were
even less successful than the late
Charles Schwab. who tried to give
a Rhineland touch to the Hudson
with his castle on Riverside Drive,
New York. only to find that the
wealthy and socially elite would
not follow his leadership.
Never Populous.
While the Glen Echo area was
one of the early suburban ones
to have the benefit of electric
street railway transportation, it
never acquired large population.
Perhaps it was because the wooded
property was too difficult for
builders in the days before diesel
shovels and bulldozers. The prop
erty along the Glen Echo Cabin
John carline and the old Conduit
road, now Macarthur boulevard,
affords magnificent vista of the
Potomac, but to this day it is only
sparsely built up, and the houses
are no match for the mansions of
the Baltzley brothers.
The Baltzleys decided to build
an amusement park, but on No.