Map of the Grounds of the National Chautauqua of Glen Echo

Edward and Edwin Baltzley, the founders of Glen Echo laid out the town and produced maps to publicize their development. The Baltzley brothers named the streets of their town after institutions of higher learning like Bowden, Oxford, Harvard and Tulane because they were starting an institution of higher learning, a National Chautauqua in Glen Echo. The Chautauqua failed due to panic over a possible malaria epidemic in Glen Echo. The Baltzley Brothers invited Miss Barton to Glen Echo in order to draw people to the town. Clara Barton was a well-known figure by this time due to her work as the Angel of the Battlefield during the American Civil War and later as the first President and Founder of the American Red Cross. They offered to build a house for her and she accepted and at first used the home as a warehouse. It wasn’t until the late 1890s, that Miss Barton used the Glen Echo House as her home and as headquarters for the American Red Cross.