Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Glen Echo, MD

Glen Echo is a small incorporated town in Montgomery County, Maryland, along the Potomac River just outside Washington, D.C., and it has its own mayor and town government.

Glen Echo began in 1888-89, when twin brothers Edwin and Edward Baltzley bought 516 acres overlooking the Potomac River and promoted a development they named Glen Echo on the Potomac.

The Baltzley brothers set aside 80 acres of their land for the National Chautauqua of Glen Echo, which became the 53rd Chautauqua Assembly in the United States.

Streetcars fueled the town's growth: the Glen Echo Railroad opened in 1891, linking the once-remote community to Washington, D.C.

The town was incorporated on April 8, 1904, in an initiative led by resident John A. Garrett, who became its first mayor.

Many of Glen Echo's streets are named after American universities, including Princeton Avenue and Harvard Avenue, and some of its houses date to 1853, with numerous original Sears and Roebuck bungalows among them.

Glen Echo Park, which began on the Chautauqua grounds, became a major amusement park after 1911 under the Washington Railway and Electric Company, with attractions including the Crystal Pool and the Spanish Ballroom.

The park's 1921 Dentzel carousel still operates today and is the only original ride remaining at Glen Echo Park.

In the summer of 1960, Howard University students protested Glen Echo Park's segregation policy, and the park opened desegregated for its 1961 season.

The amusement park closed in 1968, and the site passed to the National Park Service in 1970; today Glen Echo Park is an arts and cultural center managed with the Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture.