{{Short description|Defunct amusement park in Maryland, US}} {{About|the trolley park|the neighborhood|Chevy Chase (CDP), Maryland}} {{Infobox amusement park | name = Chevy Chase Lake | previous_names = | logo = | logo_size = | logo_alt = | logo_caption = | image = | alt = | image_size = | caption = | slogan = | resort = | location = Montgomery County, Maryland | location2 = Unincorporated Chevy Chase | location3 = | coordinates = {{Coord|38.993650|-77.075623|type:landmark|display=inline,title}} | mapframe = yes | status = Defunct | public_transit = Rock Creek Railway (1892-95)<br>Capital Transit (1895-1936) | opening_date = {{Start date|1892}} | closing_date = Ca. {{End date|1936}} | theme = | owner = Chevy Chase Land Company | operator = | general_manager = | season = | attendance = May–September | area = | area_ha = | area_acre = | rides = | coasters = | water_rides = | other_rides = | shows = | homepage = | footnotes = }} '''Chevy Chase Lake''' was a trolley park in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, that operated from 1894 until about 1936.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Chevy Chase Lake Amusement Park |url=https://www.chevychasehistory.org/ChevyChaseLake |website=Chevy Chase Historical Society |access-date=2024-02-27 |archive-date=2023-09-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927032619/https://www.chevychasehistory.org/ChevyChaseLake |url-status=live }}</ref> It was created by the Chevy Chase Land Company, which sought to draw residents of Washington, D.C., to its nascent suburb of Chevy Chase.<ref name=":0" /> It was named for the artificial lake created in 1892 when the Land Company dammed Coquelin Run to power its Rock Creek Railway streetcar line from D.C. to Chevy Chase. The park gave its name to the neighborhood that grew up near it in unincorporated Chevy Chase.<ref name=":0" />
== History == The park operated from spring to fall. In 1896, it advertised that "Donch's Band will play every evening during the summer from 8 to 10 o'clock".<ref>{{Cite news |date=1896-06-17 |title=Chevy Chase |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-washington-post-chevy-chase/181791518/ |access-date=2025-09-26 |work=The Washington Post |pages=9}}</ref>
In preparation for the 1912 season, the park received a carousel, renovations to its dance pavilion, and new walks and benches. Music was provided by the United States Marine Band.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1912-05-26 |title=Chevy Chase Lake Opens |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-washington-herald-chevy-chase-lake-o/142417247/ |access-date=2024-03-01 |work=The Washington Herald |pages=14 |archive-date=2024-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240301034910/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-washington-herald-chevy-chase-lake-o/142417247/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
In 1916, a band led by 22-year-old Meyer Davis displaced the Marines as the park's main dance band.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1916-06-25 |title=Chevy Chase Lake |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-washington-post-chevy-chase-lake/142417444/ |access-date=2024-03-01 |work=The Washington Post |pages=2 |archive-date=2024-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240301034934/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-washington-post-chevy-chase-lake/142417444/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Wrote the ''Washington Post:''<blockquote>The lure of the dance is proving potent these evenings at Chevy Chase Lake. The cars [streetcars] to the Maryland resort are crowded each night by Washington's young people who wish to keep time to the melodies provided by the Meyer Davis orchestra for dances on the big Chevy Chase pavilion. Various amusement devices, including the carousel for the youngsters, await non-dancing visitors to Chevy Chase Lake.</blockquote>The following year, Meyer took over management of the entire park, which became the foundation of his sprawling dance-band business.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Music by Meyer Davis, 1916-1930 {{!}} Chevy Chase Historical Society |url=https://www.chevychasehistory.org/music-meyer-davis-1916-1930 |access-date=2023-10-22 |website=www.chevychasehistory.org |archive-date=2023-10-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231022024650/https://www.chevychasehistory.org/music-meyer-davis-1916-1930 |url-status=live }}</ref> By the time he relinquished it in the early 1930s,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Music by Meyer Davis Page 5 {{!}} Chevy Chase Historical Society |url=https://www.chevychasehistory.org/music-meyer-davis-page-5 |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=www.chevychasehistory.org}}</ref> Davis would be the "biggest businessman among U.S. band leaders," as ''Time'' put it in 1941,<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 20, 1941 |title=Music: Businessman Band Leader |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,772631,00.html |work=Time |access-date=February 27, 2024 |archive-date=October 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231022024659/https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,772631,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> a wealthy society figure whose operations included some 80 bands with 1,000 musicians playing all along the East Coast.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Saxon |first=Wolfgang |date=April 6, 1976 |title=Meyer Davis, Orchestra Leader, Dies |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1976/04/06/75587517.html |work=The New York Times |pages=38 |access-date=February 27, 2024 |archive-date=February 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227032903/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1976/04/06/75587517.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
By 1922, a second dance pavilion had opened, featuring bands led by Davis and Joseph Shirley “Pete” Macias (1898-1947),<ref>{{Cite news |date=1913-07-03 |title=Chevy Chase Lake Will Have Old-Time Fourth |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-washington-times-chevy-chase-lake-wi/142418640/ |access-date=2024-03-01 |work=The Washington Times |pages=14 |archive-date=2024-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240301034858/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-washington-times-chevy-chase-lake-wi/142418640/ |url-status=live }}</ref> a native Washingtonian who became a popular local nightclub pianist and bandleader.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-10-08 |title=Pete Macias and the Heigh-Ho Club |url=http://www.streetsofwashington.com/2021/10/pete-macias-and-heigh-ho-club.html |access-date=2024-03-01 |language=en |archive-date=2024-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240301034303/http://www.streetsofwashington.com/2021/10/pete-macias-and-heigh-ho-club.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
The last known newspaper advertisements for the amusement park appeared in 1936, suggesting that the park closed after the summer season.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Music at the Lake in the '30s Page 2 {{!}} Chevy Chase Historical Society |url=https://www.chevychasehistory.org/music-lake-30s-page-2 |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=www.chevychasehistory.org}}</ref>
== The lake == The park's eponymous lake was created by the 1892 damming of Coquelin Run, a tributary of Rock Creek.<ref name=":0" /> This was done to provide water for the coal-fired steam turbines that powered the electric streetcars of the Rock Creek Railway, the trolley line built by the Chevy Chase Land Company to connect residents of its new suburb to Washington, D.C. The railway's terminal complex, some 1.7 miles due north of the Maryland-D.C. border, sat just north of the park. It included the power house with its tall chimney, a car barn, a turnaround loop, and a small station. It also served as the southern terminus of the Chevy Chase Lake & Kensington Railway, which connected the town of Kensington to D.C.
== Notes == {{reflist}}
Category:Chevy Chase, Maryland Category:Defunct amusement parks in Maryland