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THE TOWN WHERE LAW & ASSOCIATES, INC. LIVES
Glen Echo, MD is a wonderful place to be located. Let us tell you something about this charming little town of which we are a part. Glen Echo is one of the smallest towns in Maryland. It has 103 buildings and 242 inhabitants. It sits on just 22 acres on the river side INSIDE the infamous Beltway. We are two miles from the DC border and just over five miles from Georgetown.
In 1888 brothers Edward and Edwin Baltzley began purchasing property to build Montgomery County’s first large real estate development. They named it Glen-Echo-on-the-Potomac. They also established a National Chautauqua at the site. Chautauqua was a quasi-religious summer school that included education, cultural activities, and entertainment. They expected to sell these very expensive small tracts of land to the educationally elite.
The Baltzley brothers were able to finance their investment with the money Edwin had made on the invention of an improved mechanical eggbeater, patented in 1885, that reversed direction halfway through each turn of the crank. In 1888 they sold the egg beater factory and the patent and began investing in real estate.
Clara Barton was Glen Echo’s most famous resident. She lived here from 1897 until her death in 1912. The Park Service maintains her residence and keeps it open for visiting.
Unfortunately there was a reversal of fortune and, in 1899, the Baltzleys rented the park to the Glen Echo Company, who put in a merry-go-round, a bowling alley, a band pavilion, and picnic grounds. Alonzo P. Shaw, who had built the huge elephant at Coney Island, was brought in to manage the park. He installed a Ferris wheel in Clara Barton's front yard and a roller coaster that came screeching by her window. He was hoping to drive her out of her house so he could turn it into a hotel. Although she remained in the home, the Glen Echo Amusement Park was created. The park became hugely successful and added a major amusement each year. These included the Crystal Pool, the Spanish Ballroom, the Midway, the carousel, a dodgem, skeeball alleys and shooting galleries, a penny arcade, the Pretzel, the Whip, the Coaster Dips, and the Flying Scooter. Glen Echo Amusement Park became a family playground with wholesome attractions.
One of the most popular attractions was a carousel made by the Dentzel Company of Philadelphia and installed in 1921. Today it still runs and is the only carousel of its age and quality that has remained in its original location. When the amusement park eventually closed, the carousel was sold to a Virginia collector. However, local residents became concerned that it would be subsequently sold piecemeal and, in 1970, raised $80,000 to purchase it back. The carousel has been being painstakingly and lovingly restored. It is beloved by everyone that visits the park including the many schoolchildren that flock to it each year. A ride on the carousel costs $1.50.
Glen Echo Park was transferred to the US government on April 1, 1970 in a land exchange. It eventually became part of the Department of Interior, and administered by the National Park Service. Since 1971, National Park Service has been offering year-round activities in dance, theater, and the arts. Today Glen Echo Park is again a Chautauqua, a center for learning and entertainment. It is administered under a unique partnership between the National Park Service and the State of Maryland. Classes are offered in painting, ceramics, sculpture, photography, ballet, ballroom dancing, folk dancing, textiles, enameling, puppetry, and many other arts. Weekend dances and theater events are once more delighting the nation's capital.
Glen Echo Park and the Town of Glen Echo are wonderful places to be. Those of us who have lived here a long time remember coming to Glen Echo as children and today we all send our children there for classes and theatre. (Sally and Barbara both have fond memories of riding the old wooden roller coaster back in the 1960’s.)
Glen Echo has a mayor and a four-member town council, all of whom are volunteers. It has a paid clerk-treasurer. Glen Echo still holds Town Meetings on a monthly basis. All town business is governed in this old fashioned small town in which everyone knows his neighbors and the town’s monthly newspaper is delivered directly to its residents. It is a sweet and lovely town that sits in an urban forest, and has remained a special place to be.
Law & Associates, Inc. is located in a Civil War era building that was part of the original Chautauqua. The building was renovated with great care by Sally Law in 1990 and has been occupied by Law & Associates, Inc. since May of 1991.
For more information about Glen Echo Park and current activities, please visit www.glenechopark.org.
DISCLOSURE:
Links are being provided for information purposes only. Raymond James is not affiliated with and does not endorse, authorize or sponsor any of the listed websites or their respective sponsors. Raymond James is not responsible for the content of any website or the collection or use of information regarding any website's users and/or members.
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