2004-6-13
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VOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve
Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Faith Lapidus. Today we take you to Glen Echo Park near
Washington, D.C.
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VOICE ONE:
Glen Echo Park has less than four hectares of land but much
history. In fact, more than one-hundred years ago, some people came
here to learn about history. Others came to learn about the stars in
the sky.
People also came to paint and make crafts, to sing and dance, and
to hear music. Some came just to sit and think in the beauty of the
land by the Potomac River.
Over the years, a lot changed. But a lot also changed back.
VOICE TWO:
Visitors keep Glen Echo a busy place. Just this month, there were
thousands of people at a folk festival at the park.
There are classes in hundreds of subjects. There are shows for
children at the Adventure Theatre and the Puppet Company. Glen Echo
Park is also home to the only merry-go-round owned by the United
States government.
One of the most historic places to
visit is the home of Clara Barton. She established the American Red
Cross in eighteen-eighty-one. Clara Barton lived the last fifteen
years of her life in a big house at Glen Echo.
VOICE ONE:
Glen Echo was an education center when it opened in
eighteen-ninety-one. It was part of the Chautauqua movement started
by two men. Lewis Miller was a businessman in Ohio. John Vincent was
a Protestant clergyman.
They set out to help common people become more educated. They
also wanted to give them a chance to enjoy nature the way that
wealthier Americans could. Their work was part of a larger movement
at that time toward religious faith among Americans.
The Chautauqua movement began as a summer education program. It
started in New York State in eighteen-seventy-four at a camp along
Chautauqua Lake. Religious Sunday school teachers were the first to
attend. But the idea spread.
VOICE TWO:
Two brothers in Maryland helped bring the movement to their
state. They gave thirty-two hectares of land to an organization
called the National Chautauqua of Glen Echo. Edwin and Edward
Baltzley wanted to help people learn what they needed to know to act
as members of society.
A local history published at glenecho.org notes that the
Baltzleys had other ideas for their land at first. The brothers
hoped that people would build stone castles. They imagined it like
Europe. But there was talk of a malaria danger. So buyers lost
interest.
VOICE ONE:
Many people attended the first season of the Glen Echo
Chautauqua. They studied different subjects, from rocks to foreign
languages to something called "The Care and Development of Physical
Powers."
One of the directors of the program was John Wesley Powell. He
had explored the Colorado River and the American West.
But then a teacher at the park developed a lung infection. He
died of pneumonia. Somehow a story spread around Washington that he
died of malaria. Malaria is spread by mosquito bites. People became
afraid to go to the park.
The official Chautauqua closed in the summer of
eighteen-ninety-two, a year after it opened.
For the next five years, traveling shows entertained at the park.
Then the Baltzley brothers let a small amusement park operate on
part of the land.
VOICE TWO:
In nineteen-eleven the Washington Railway and Electric Company
bought the land. The new owners continued to offer shows and rides
at the park. The company had started an electric railway system in
Washington. Many local citizens liked riding the trolley, especially
in the summer. Traveling in the open air at sixteen kilometers an
hour cooled people in the Washington heat. And Glen Echo served as
an interesting stop.
By nineteen-thirty-one, the park had a place where people could
pay to dance. Two years later, there was a room with a huge dance
floor: the Spanish Ballroom. People still dance there.
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VOICE ONE:
Before long, Glen Echo Park added other activities. There was a
roller coaster ride. And the Crystal Pool could hold up to
three-thousand swimmers.
In nineteen-fifty-five, the park was sold to a new owner. People
kept coming.
But not everyone could enjoy the Glen Echo Amusement Park.
African Americans were not welcome. In the summer of nineteen-sixty,
the civil rights movement in America was gaining strength. Blacks
and whites protested outside the park. The demonstrators won. The
next year, the park accepted black people.
Bigger changes were also taking place, though. Theme parks were
opening around the United States. Families could now go to places
like Disneyland in California. The little park near the Potomac
River in Maryland no longer seemed so exciting.
There was even a riot. It began on a day when the Glen Echo
Amusement Park closed early. Young people from Washington could not
get buses home. They became violent. This happened in
nineteen-sixty-six.
Two years later, the park closed permanently. Many rides were
sold or destroyed. The much-loved heart of the park was a
merry-go-round. This carousel too was sold.
VOICE TWO:
In nineteen-seventy the federal government bought the Glen Echo
land. The government wanted to limit development near the Potomac
River. People who lived nearby wanted to keep the carousel on the
property. In just four weeks they raised enough money to buy it back
from its new owner. They also raised money for the Wurlitzer organ
that gave the carousel its music.
Then they gave the carousel and the organ to the National Park
Service, under an agreement to keep them in the park for public use.
In the nineteen-eighties, an artist began work to return the
merry-go-round to its former condition. Carousel riders and other
people gave money for the repairs. Full restoration of the Dentzel
Carousel was completed about a year ago.
VOICE ONE:
The animals are beautifully carved. There are forty horses, along
with four rabbits and four ostriches. Riders also have the choice of
a giraffe, a deer, a lion and a tiger. And there two circus chariots
that people can ride in. One-thousand lights shine from the
carousel. It looks very inviting, and not just to children.
Now, suppose we take a ride. As we go around, we hear the music
of the Wurlitzer. Only ten carousel organs like this one are known
to exist in the world. Some of the instruments we hear are unusual,
like the glockenspiel and flageolet.
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VOICE TWO:
Another popular part of Glen Echo is the Adventure Theatre. In
July and August, the theater will perform "The Adventures of
Paddington Bear." There are also acting classes. The teachers say
that here, "stories become plays and people become actors."
But not all the actors at Glen Echo are people. Over at the
Puppet Company Playhouse, through July eighteenth, is "The Wizard of
Oz." Recently the Puppet Company began performing its plays in a new
theater. Puppeteers Christopher Piper, MayField Piper and Allan
Stevens present fairy tales and other children's stories. The
puppets are operated by hand or by strings. There is even a
life-size lion.
The puppeteers create the puppets, write the words of the
stories, and make costumes. They do almost everything themselves.
Their non-profit company has been entertaining children at Glen Echo
Park for more than twenty years.
Children sit on the floor and watch. Parents can sit on benches.
Some people who came as children now bring their own children.
VOICE ONE:
Anne Finnegan McGrath of Pennsylvania grew up in Washington. As a
child, she rode the carousel and swam in the Crystal Pool. As a
young mother, she took her kids to the Adventure Theatre. Now, as a
senior citizen, she has performed Irish dancing at folk festivals at
Glen Echo. She says the park fills her with happy memories.
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Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Lawan
Davis. I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for THIS IS
AMERICA in VOA Special English.