This book presents the rich history of the old amusement parks and beach resorts frequented by Baltimoreans beginning in the 1870s and stretching into the late 20th century. Readers may recognize such popular amusement parks as Gwynn Oak, Carlin's, and Tolchester Beach, and will learn about some of the more obscure places like Frederick Road Park and Hollywood Park. Each of the major parks is documented here, complete with a detailed history of the sites they were built on, the creative owners behind the parks' inceptions, the individuals and companies who provided the rides and attractions, and, the people that happily traveled by boat, streetcar, train and automobile to reach their favorite park or resort.
"A snapshot of the civil-rights movement in one city provides insight into the important role of individual communities as change moved through the country…a case study of how citizens of one city both precipitated and responded to the whirlwind of social change around them."—Kirkus Reviews "A profoundly moving tribute to the intrepid unsung heroes who risked their lives to help bring an end to Baltimore's Jim Crow Era."—Kam Williams, syndicated columnist On August 28, 1963—the day of Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech—segregation ended finally at Baltimore's Gwynn Oak Amusement Park, after nearly a decade of bitter protests. Eleven-month-old Sharon Langley was the first African American child to go on a ride there that day, taking a spin on the park's merry-go-round, which since 1981 has been located on the National Mall in front of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Round and Round Together weaves the story of the struggle to integrate that Baltimore amusement park into the story of the civil rights movement as a whole. Round and Round Together is illustrated with archival photos from newspapers and other sources, as well as personal photos from family albums of individuals interviewed for the book. There is a timeline of major Civil Rights events. "Amy Nathan's book deftly describes the courageous struggle by blacks and whites to end discrimination in the park, the city, and the nation. Readers will walk away with a clearer understanding of segregation and the valiant Americans who fought against this injustice."—Debra Newman Ham, Professor of History, Morgan State University "Round and Round Together tells the inspiring story of how a generation of college and high school students provided the energy and enthusiasm that ended racial segregation in Baltimore's Gwynn Oak Amusement Park and changed the direction of Maryland's history."—James Henretta, Professor Emeritus, University of Maryland "With clarity and passion, Amy Nathan portrays the struggle of everyday citizens to end racial segregation in Baltimore. This compelling history, for and about young people, is simple but profound like freedom itself."—Taylor Branch, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of the trilogy America in the King Years
The true story of how a 1963 ride on a carousel in Maryland made a powerful Civil Rights statement. A Ride to Remember tells how a community came together—both black and white—to make a change. When Sharon Langley was born in the early 1960s, many amusement parks were segregated, and African-American families were not allowed entry. This book reveals how in the summer of 1963, due to demonstrations and public protests, the Gwynn Oak Amusement Park in Maryland became desegregated and opened to all for the first time. Co-author Sharon Langley was the first African-American child to ride the carousel. This was on the same day of Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Langley’s ride to remember demonstrated the possibilities of King’s dream. This book includes photos of Sharon on the carousel, authors’ notes, a timeline, and a bibliography. “Delivers a beautiful and tender message about equality from the very first page.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review “Cooper’s richly textured illustrations evoke sepia photographs’ dreamlike combination of distance and immediacy, complementing the aura of reminiscence that permeates Langley and Nathan’s narrative.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review “A solid addition to U.S. history collections for its subject matter and its first-person historical narrative.” —School Library Journal
Rediscover the magic of the Enchanted Forest in this history of Maryland's Storybook Park, the first children's theme park on the East Coast. The history of the Enchanted Forest is one of magical beginnings. When it first opened in 1955, Ellicott City's storybook land became the first children's theme park on the East Coast. Young visitors could climb aboard rides like the Little Toot tugboat, Mother Goose and Ali Baba or encounter animals like peacocks and burros. Upon its closing in 1989, Marylanders who cherished memories of the Enchanted Forest were deeply disappointed. However, many of the park's beloved figures were moved to nearby Clark's Elioak Farm, where they were restored and displayed to the delight of new generations. Even today, the farm is a popular destination that evokes the whimsical spirit of the iconic park. Local author Janet Kusterer and Martha Anne Clark of Elioak Farm trace the park's history through vintage images and interviews with the Harrison family, former employees and visitors. Join Kusterer and Clark to rediscover the magic of the Enchanted Forest.
A vivid social history of Baltimore's prostitution trade and its evolution throughout the nineteenth century, Bawdy City centers woman in a story of the relationship between sexuality, capitalism, and law. Beginning in the colonial period, prostitution was little more than a subsistence trade. However, by the 1840s, urban growth and changing patterns of household labor ushered in a booming brothel industry. The women who oversaw and labored within these brothels were economic agents surviving and thriving in an urban world hostile to their presence. With the rise of urban leisure industries and policing practices that spelled the end of sex establishments, the industry survived for only a few decades. Yet, even within this brief period, brothels and their residents altered the geographies, economy, and policies of Baltimore in profound ways. Hemphill's critical narrative of gender and labor shows how sexual commerce and debates over its regulation shaped an American city.
From Ferris wheels to roller coasters to tunnels of love, everyone has a favorite amusement park memory. For nearly 130 years, many of those memories have been made at Maryland's amusement parks. Today, only five exist, but throughout history, nearly three dozen have been part of Maryland's landscape. Images of America: Maryland's Amusement Parks offers a glimpse of those parks and how they helped millions quench their thirst for recreation. Maryland's first recorded amusement park, Cabin John Park in Montgomery County, opened in 1876, serving as a training ground for such industry luminaries as Scenic Railway and roller coaster pioneer L.A. Thompson and carousel carver Gustav Dentzel. More than a century later, Maryland's oldest park, Trimper's Rides and Amusements in Ocean City, is a virtual museum of amusement park history with operating rides dating to 1902. Some favorite parks, including Glen Echo, Gwynn Oak, Pen Mar, Tolchester Beach, and The Enchanted Forest, did not last as long, but their memories live on through more than 200 images in this volume.
A tribute to the enduring courage and spirit of children of Baltimore from the mid 1800s-early 1900s. In a city that has been, at once, blessed with a rich port and torn apart by war, filled with pristine parks and scarred by the ravages of industrial life, childhood has reflected the ever-changing times and culture in American life. From baseball games and trips to the zoo to schoolyard pals and amusement park rides, children explored the world around them. The nostalgia and innocence of well-born youth, however, mingled with the harsher realities that many boys and girls knew as their daily lives - laboring in the mills and factories, the haphazard destruction of fires and storms, the segregation of public places and the cold and hunger so keenly felt during the Great Depression.
"Neither southern nor northern, Baltimore has charted its own course through the American experience. The spires of the nation's first cathedral rose into its sky, and the first blood of the Civil War fell on its streets. Here, enslaved Frederick Douglass toiled before fleeing to freedom and Billie Holiday learned to sing. Baltimore's clippers plied the seven seas, while its pioneering railroads opened the prairie West. The city that birthed "The Star-Spangled Banner" also gave us Babe Ruth and the bottle cap. This guide navigates nearly three hundred years of colorful history--from Johns Hopkins's earnest philanthropy to the raucous camp of John Waters and from modest row houses to the marbled mansions of the Gilded Age. Let local authors Brennen Jensen and Tom Chalkley introduce you to Mencken's "ancient and solid" city--]cBack cover.
In Musical Maryland, the first comprehensive survey of the music emanating from the Old Line State, David K. Hildebrand and Elizabeth M. Schaaf explore the myriad ways in which music has enriched the lives of Marylanders. From the drinking songs of colonial Annapolis, the liturgical music of the Zion Lutheran Church, and the work songs of the tobacco fields to the exuberant marches of late nineteenth-century Baltimore Orioles festivals, Chick Webb’s mastery on drums, and the triumphs of the Baltimore Opera Society, this richly illustrated volume explores more than 300 years of Maryland’s music history. Beginning with early compositions performed in private settings and in public concerts, this book touches on the development of music clubs like the Tuesday Club, the Florestan Society, and H. L. Mencken’s Saturday Night Club, as well as lasting institutions such as the Peabody Institute and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO). Yet the soundscape also includes militia quicksteps, sea chanteys, and other work songs. The book describes the writing of "The Star-Spangled Banner"—perhaps Maryland's single greatest contribution to the nation's musical history. It chronicles the wide range of music created and performed by Maryland’s African American musicians along Pennsylvania Avenue in racially segregated Baltimore, from jazz to symphonic works. It also tells the true story of a deliberately integrated concert that the BSO staged at the end of World War II. The book is full of musical examples, engravings, paintings, drawings, and historic photographs that not only portray the composers and performers but also the places around the state in which music flourished. Illuminating sidebars by William Biehl focus on late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century song of the kind evoked by the USS Baltimore or inspired by the state's history, natural beauty, and romantic steamboats. The book also offers a sampling of the tunes that Maryland’s more remarkable composers and performers, including Billie Holiday, Eubie Blake, and Cab Calloway, contributed to American music before the homogenization that arrived in earnest after World War II. Bringing to life not only portraits of musicians, composers, and conductors whose stories and recollections are woven into the fabric of this book, but also musical scores and concert halls, Musical Maryland is an engaging, authoritative, and bold look at an endlessly compelling subject. -- John Barry Talley, author of Secular Music in Colonial Annapolis, 1745–56
Throughout the twentieth century, African Americans challenged segregation at amusement parks, swimming pools, and skating rinks not only in pursuit of pleasure but as part of a wider struggle for racial equality. Well before the Montgomery bus boycott, mothers led their children into segregated amusement parks, teenagers congregated at forbidden swimming pools, and church groups picnicked at white-only parks. But too often white mobs attacked those who dared to transgress racial norms. In Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters, Victoria W. Wolcott tells the story of this battle for access to leisure space in cities all over the United States. Contradicting the nostalgic image of urban leisure venues as democratic spaces, Wolcott reveals that racial segregation was crucial to their appeal. Parks, pools, and playgrounds offered city dwellers room to exercise, relax, and escape urban cares. These gathering spots also gave young people the opportunity to mingle, flirt, and dance. As cities grew more diverse, these social forms of fun prompted white insistence on racially exclusive recreation. Wolcott shows how black activists and ordinary people fought such infringements on their right to access public leisure. In the face of violence and intimidation, they swam at white-only beaches, boycotted discriminatory roller rinks, and picketed Jim Crow amusement parks. When African Americans demanded inclusive public recreational facilities, white consumers abandoned those places. Many parks closed or privatized within a decade of desegregation. Wolcott's book tracks the decline of the urban amusement park and the simultaneous rise of the suburban theme park, reframing these shifts within the civil rights context. Filled with detailed accounts and powerful insights, Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters brings to light overlooked aspects of conflicts over public accommodations. This eloquent history demonstrates the significance of leisure in American race relations.
