| What makes it historical? |
Glen Echo was originally founded as a fancy, European-style subdivision! Originally, this park site was used as a Chautauqua Assembly site, or summer-long educational seminar series, until a malaria scare shut it down! From there, it became a local amusement park, made historical by the electric trolley that reached Glen Echo from Washington, D.C! It was popular during the Roaring 20s and gave hard-rationed Americans some relief during World War II!
To protest the park’s segregation policies in 1960, a group of about 24 students rushed to the historic carousel and refused to leave! They were arrested, but picketing continued until March of 1961 when political maneuvering by Robert Kennedy forced the park to de-segregate or lose funding for their trolley! |
