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The Cabin John Bridge Hotel, built in 1870 at the west end of the aqueduct bridge, became Montgomery County’s “destination dining” experience in the last quarter of the 19th century. The hotel china featured a grey-green transfer-printed view of the bridge and Cabin John Run which it spanned. By 1896, patrons could travel from Georgetown on a scenic streetcar ride that led past what was briefly the Glen Echo Chautauqua, but became the Glen Echo Amusement Park. The hotel closed in 1926, and burned to the ground in the early 1930s.
German immigrants Joseph and Rosa Bobbinger moved to Maryland around 1861 so Joseph could work for the U.S. Corps of Engineers building the Washington Aqueduct; Rosa sold sandwiches, drinks, and tobacco to workers. The aqueduct was carried over Cabin John Creek by the Union Arch Bridge, which, at its 1864 opening, was the largest single span stone arch in the world (the roadway atop it was added later). Such an engineering marvel became an attraction, so in 1870 the Bobbingers built a modest German-styled hotel on the river side of the Conduit Road (now MacArthur Boulevard), serving Rosa’s cooking to great success.
After the death of Joseph in 1881, Rosa took her sons into the business. After her death in 1893, William and George took over management. A streetcar line from Friendship Heights to Conduit Road had opened in 1891, providing service to the Chautauqua (1891-1896), but stopping short of the bridge. The 1896 line from Georgetown along the Conduit Road ran clear to the east end of the bridge. To reach that terminus, the Bobbinger Brothers added a lower pedestrian bridge across Cabin John Creek, with a good vantage of the historic main bridge.
There were two similar patterns of china; pieces marked simply “Cabin John Bridge Hotel” are earlier, while pieces featuring an entwined “BB” for the Bobbinger Brothers were made later. The china was made by Bauschen Brothers, a German manufactory (still in operation) founded in 1881 in Weiden, Bavaria. The brothers August and Conrad Bauschen focused on robust yet beautiful china for hotels and the catering trade.
Montgomery History’s collection includes intact pieces, two plates and one pitcher, all from different donors. Broken pieces, a serving dish and a cup, received in 2004, have an interesting provenance; they had been found in the woods by the donor’s mother many years before.
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