From its beginnings as the National Chautauqua to its years as an amusement park, Glen Echo underwent constant change, and although some of the old park remained, much did not survive. Among the vanished attractions were the Whip, Crystal Pool, and the Coaster Dips, but the most remarkable lost entertainment was the Chautauqua Amphitheater, later called the Funhouse. When Edward and Edwin Baltzley opened Glen Echo as the National Chautauqua in 1891, the site included a public assembly hall designed by Theophilus P. Chandler of Philadelphia that spanned the valley with a creek running beneath it, was electrically lit, seated more than 8,000 people, and was crowned by a dome 250 feet in diameter, making it one of the largest performance spaces in the nation. It hosted a program of daily lyceum lecture concerts and spectacular entertainments, while beneath it two stories of stone grottoes, passageways, bridges, and alcoves offered relief from the summer heat, and opening day ceremonies took place on June 16, 1891. The Chautauqua at Glen Echo was short-lived, and by 1892 the amphitheater was being used for other entertainment, including plays, concerts, prize fights, operas, and contests, and by 1897 vaudeville had become its primary attraction, featuring performers such as the Fadettes and other vaudeville artists. In 1911 the amphitheater was converted into a funhouse modeled after Coney Island’s Steeplechase Park, with early attractions including a human roulette wheel, distorting mirrors, a giant slide, and other amusements, later joined by features such as the Rocking Pigs, the Whirl-i-gig, Crossing The Ice, the Tubs, the Barrel of Fun, and a 600 foot scooter-car track around the top of the building. An operator in the tower supervised the rides and controlled air vents in the floor that blew unsuspecting ladies’ skirts over their heads. The funhouse declined in time with many other Glen Echo amusements: the midway closed in 1948 because of termite damage, the attractions were removed in 1949, and in September 1956 the building was burned down to make room for a 300 space parking lot.
