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Glen Echo Railroad

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Defunct streetcar line in Montgomery County, Maryland
Glen Echo Railroad
1939 photo of streetcar at Glen Echo Park
Overview
Other name(s)Washington and Glen Echo Railroad
Statusdefunct
Termini
  • Friendship Heights, Maryland
  • Cabin John, Maryland
Service
TypeStreetcar
History
Opened1891
Closed1902

The Glen Echo Railroad (after 1896, the Washington and Glen Echo Railroad) was a streetcar line that operated independently in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, from 1891 to 1902. It ultimately connected the communities of Cabin John and Glen Echo to a terminal near present-day Friendship Heights, where passengers could transfer to the greater regional Washington, D.C., streetcar network.

Its Glen Echo-to-Cabin John tracks remained in service under different ownership until 1960.

History

Founding: 1888-1895

The company was chartered in 1888 and incorporated the following year by the Baltzley brothers, who founded Glen Echo, along with Frederick W. Pratt, Jason C. Pratt, Joseph Reading, Edward Crockett, and Lawrence A. Lodge as a means to connect their real estate projects to the regional trolley network. Initially, its 2.5-mile line ran from the Tennallytown and Rockville Railroad terminal at Wisconsin Avenue and Willard Avenue near Friendship Heights to a masonry car barn and powerhouse at Conduit Road (today's Macarthur Boulevard) near the intersection of Walhonding Road.

To draw passengers and buyers, the Baltzleys built a cafe of cedar logs, dubbed "The Arcade", at the western terminus. Eminent domain was used to acquire at least some of the right-of-way, which caused several disputes, including one that temporarily halted construction in June 1891. Operation began on June 17, 1891, nearly a year later than planned. Via connections to other streetcar lines, a passenger could ride from the Glen Echo area to the U.S. Treasury Department in downtown Washington in "about 30 minutes".

In 1895, the Washington Star reported, “The condition of the road and most of its equipment is exceedingly unattractive, the cars being old and dingy, and the tracks for nearly their entire length of three miles from the junction with the Georgetown and Tenleytown electric line to Glenn Echo, overgrown with grass and weeds."

The article continued, "There is a hope and belief on the part of many residents of this section that the Glen Echo road will before long become the property of the new Capital Traction Company. There is a gap of five-eighths of a mile between the Rock Creek road at Chevy Chase Circle and the Glen Echo road, and as but comparatively little heavy grading would have to be done the expense of building the necessary connection would be but small. In the event of this being brought about and the Glen Echo road brought up to that high state of efficiency which marks all the properties of the Capital Traction Company the latter will have a magnificent road from all parts of Washington within one mile of Cabin John bridge."

New owners: 1896-1902

In 1896, the Baltzley brothers lost control of the streetcar company to new owners, who renamed it the Washington and Glen Echo Railroad. Securing permission to cross the Washington Aqueduct at Conduit Road, they extended the line northwest from its western terminus, reaching Glen Echo proper and continuing onward to Cabin John.

As foreseen a year earlier, the owners also planned to extend the line eastward to reach Chevy Chase Circle, where their streetcars could connect with the Capital Traction Company. But instead of running from the existing eastern terminus—the “union station” it shared with the Tennallytown and Rockville line at Wisconsin Avenue and Willard Street—the new owners envisioned a more direct route to the Circle from the Conduit-Walhonding car barn. This more northerly route would cross the Tennallytown and Rockville line about a quarter-mile north of the existing station. It would run through the town of Somerset, where the owners, said to be "Philadelphia capitalists", owned "considerable real estate at Somerset Heights".

The company secured permission to run through land east of Wisconsin owned by the Chevy Chase Land Company, but the project was never completed.

Ridership on the Washington and Glen Echo declined after the 1897 opening of the Washington and Great Falls Electric Railway (W&GFER) from Georgetown to Glen Echo. By 1900 it was practically closed; it ceased operations entirely in 1902.

Aftermath

The section from Walhonding Road to Cabin John was incorporated into the W&GFER. The power system was removed and reused elsewhere in DC. The tracks from Tenallytown to Conduit were removed, likely for scrap. The carbarn was abandoned and quickly fell into disrepair and by the late 1930s, it was in ruins with few walls over eight feet tall remaining. By the 1950s, nearly all trace of the structure was gone.

A few remnants of the original line remain. Railroad tracks, a "frog" (part of a switchback) and the trestle abutments remain visible in Willard Avenue Neighborhood Park in Bethesda, Maryland. A few squared blocks from the carbarn can be found in the yard of a nearby home.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "A New Railroad". Washington Evening Star. 1889-12-16. p. 8. Retrieved 2025-01-06.
  2. ^ "Trolleys and Conduit Road". Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  3. ^ "A Great Cafe". The Washington Post. 1890-04-27. p. 5. Retrieved 2025-01-06.
  4. "Over the Maryland Line". Evening Star. 1890-05-09. p. 6. Retrieved 2025-01-06.
  5. "Our Maryland Neighbors". Evening Star. 1890-05-16. p. 7. Retrieved 2025-01-06.
  6. S.A.M. (1890-05-23). "Real Estate Deals". Evening Star. p. 8. Retrieved 2025-01-06.
  7. "Notes". Evening Star. 1891-07-25. p. 16. Retrieved 2025-01-06.
  8. "The Glen Echo Railroad". Evening Star. 1891-06-08. p. 5. Retrieved 2025-01-06.
  9. "Real Estate Markey Gossip". The Washington Post. 1891-07-12. p. 10. Retrieved 2025-01-06.
  10. "Chevy Chase". Evening star. 1895-08-07. p. 10. Retrieved 2025-01-23.
  11. "Railroad Stock Changes Hands". Baltimore Sun. 17 Sep 1898. Archived from the original on 2023-09-01. Retrieved 2023-09-01.
  12. "Proposed Railroad Changes". Evening star. 1896-05-09. p. 13. Archived from the original on 2023-08-31. Retrieved 2023-08-31.
  13. A mystery: In August 1896, the Washington Times reported that the railroad had “virtually completed" grading a new direct route from Chevy Chase Circle to the existing line at River Road that would begin operations in 30 days. "Changes at Glen Echo". The Times. 1896-08-12. p. 6. Retrieved 2025-01-23.
  14. ^ E.H.T. Traceries, Inc (June 2005). "Streetcar and Bus Resources of Washington, D.C., 1862-1962 / National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form" (PDF). United States Department of the Interior / National Park Service. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-08-21. Retrieved 2023-08-21.
  15. "Trolleys and Conduit Road". Retrieved 6 January 2025.
  16. "Willard Avenue Neighborhood Park". MontgomeryParks.org. Silver Spring, Maryland: Montgomery County Department of Parks. Archived from the original on 2014-02-20. Retrieved 2014-02-02. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
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