Glen Echo on the Potomac (05-11)

Historical narrative

Glen Echo on the Potomac: “The Washington Rhine” was the title of an illustrated promotional brochure created by Edwin Baltzley in the early 1890s to promote the Glen Echo development and its scenic Potomac River setting. The Baltzley brothers deliberately compared the wooded bluffs and river views of Glen Echo to Germany's romantic Rhine Valley, hoping to establish the area as a fashionable suburban and recreational destination. The brochure helped promote their ambitious development, including residential land sales and the resort they had created along the river. Glen Echo was soon transformed again through the National Chautauqua movement and, in the early twentieth century, eventually became the famous trolley amusement park remembered by generations of Washington-area families. The ornate lettering and picturesque pavilion image on this cover capture the optimism and romanticism of America's emerging leisure culture around 1890.

Watercolor

© Stephen B. Hales — All Rights Reserved