Montgomery History Online Exhibit: Reed Brothers Dodge

Reed Brothers Dodge history

Opened September 24, 2024
Curated by Jeanne Gartner and Sarah Hedlund

Montgomery History has unveiled a new online exhibition titled “Reed Brothers Dodge – Montgomery County’s Oldest Dodge Dealership.” Officially launched on September 24, 2024, the exhibition was co-curated by Jeanne Gartner, author of the Reed Brothers Dodge History blog and co-owner of the former dealership, in collaboration with Sarah Hedlund, Montgomery History’s Librarian and Archivist.

This digital exhibition presents a comprehensive narrative of Reed Brothers Dodge, tracing its evolution from its founding in the early twentieth century through its decades of service to the Montgomery County community. Organized into distinct historical periods, the exhibition highlights rare artifacts, photographs, and memorabilia; offering insights into not only the dealership’s operations but also broader cultural contexts such as automotive service, local sports, and mid-century fashion. The full exhibition is available online at https://sites.google.com/view/reedbrothersdodge/home

Jeanne Gartner, granddaughter of Lewis Reed, founder of Reed Brothers Dodge, serves as the curator and historian behind the Reed Brothers Dodge History blog. Honored with the 2016 Arthur M. Wagman Award for Historic Preservation Communication from Peerless Rockville, the blog functions as a living digital archive that preserves the dealership’s enduring legacy and its integral role in Montgomery County’s development. Since its debut in April 2012, the site has garnered more than half a million views, documenting over a century of the family business’s history, community engagement, and contributions to the American automobile industry. Drawing from Lewis Reed’s extensive photographic collection and business records, Gartner’s work offers a richly detailed portrait of local enterprise, early transportation, and the entrepreneurial spirit that helped shape both the region and the broader American story.

Montgomery History Online Exhibit: Montgomery County, Then and Now

Montgomery County Then & Now

Montgomery County, Then and Now: Photography of Lewis Reed and Barry Gartner

Opened December 6, 2023
Curated by Jeanne Gartner and Sarah Hedlund

Montgomery County: Then and Now, offers a captivating visual journey through more than a century of local history, told through rare photographs by Lewis Reed and his grandson Barry Gartner. This site presents side-by-side comparisons of historic scenes photographed by Reed between 1900 and 1930 and contemporary color images recreated from those same vantage points by Gartner in 2023, illustrating the dramatic changes, and sometimes surprising continuities, in the landscape, infrastructure, and community life of Montgomery County, Maryland.

Visitors are invited to explore stories behind each image, discovering the evolving character of familiar places as trees mature, buildings disappear, roads shift, and horse-drawn buggies give way to automobiles. The exhibit also delves into the personal histories of its featured photographers: Lewis Reed, remembered for his pioneering photography before founding Reed Brothers Dodge in 1915, and Barry Gartner, a third-generation owner who honors his grandfather’s legacy through both automotive restoration and modern photography.

A unique feature of the exhibit is the interactive map links accompanying each photo pair, allowing viewers to pinpoint the exact locations where history meets the present moment. Through this dynamic blend of archival and modern visuals, Montgomery County: Then and Now deepens our appreciation for local heritage and the passage of time, connecting generations through the lens of two accomplished photographers dedicated to capturing the changing face of their community.

This online exhibit opened December 6, 2023, and is thoughtfully curated by Jeanne Gartner and Sarah Hedlund, providing rich historical context and insight into the fascinating process of recreating these historical photographs. The full exhibition is available online at https://sites.google.com/view/mocothenandnow/home

Montgomery History Online Exhibit: Montgomery County 1900-1930: Through the Lens of Lewis Reed

Montgomery County, 1900-1930: Through the Lens of Lewis Reed

Opened January 7, 2020
Curated by Jeanne Gartner and Sarah Hedlund

Discover Montgomery County in the early 20th century through the remarkable photography of Lewis Reed, founder of Reed Brothers Dodge. An avid photographer and pioneering automobile dealer, Reed documented the region during his motorcycle journeys across Maryland, capturing the transformation of transportation, daily life, recreation, and community scenes from 1900 to 1930. His photographs offer an intimate window into the people, places, and moments that defined the county and shaped broader American history.

This online exhibition was carefully curated by Jeanne Gartner, granddaughter of Lewis Reed and co-owner of Reed Brothers Dodge, in collaboration with Sarah Hedlund, Archivist and Librarian at Montgomery History. Jeanne’s curatorial vision was instrumental in organizing these photographs into thematic galleries that illuminate Reed’s artistic legacy and documentary purpose, from the evolution of transportation and leisure pursuits to innovative photographic techniques and local economic growth.

Together, these images form a vital portrait of Montgomery County over a century ago, revealing Lewis Reed’s deep appreciation for his community and his enduring commitment to preserving its history for future generations.

View the full exhibition online: https://sites.google.com/view/lewis-reed-photography/home

Reed Photo Collection (1898-1960)

Lewis Reed, founder of Reed Brothers Dodge, was one of the most prolific photographers in Montgomery County at the turn of the 20th century. A self-taught photographer, he used a darkroom set up in his kitchen, sometimes working late at night to develop the negatives.

About This Collection:

Since launching this blog, it has been possible to explore an extraordinary archive: Lewis Reed’s photographs, taken across Maryland, Washington, DC, Virginia, and well beyond. The Reed Photo Collection (1898-1960) highlights the images that have been researched and identified, gathered into 200+ blog posts that offer vivid glimpses of everyday life more than a century ago.

Featured subjects range from the Black Rock Grist Mill, Rockville Water Tower, and C&O Canal to the 1939-1940 New York World’s Fair, Rockville Fair dirt track races, trolley cars, the Wright Brothers’ airplane, and the Quebec Bridge, once called the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” Particularly striking are the images documenting the devastation of the 1936 Gainesville, Georgia tornado, one of the deadliest in U.S. history; many photographs in this collection have never before appeared in print.

Lewis Reed’s legacy

Lewis Reed’s photographs have become an essential visual resource for local historians and have appeared in respected publications as well as historical television programs, including American Pickers, Science Channel’s Impossible Engineering, Maryland Public Television, and the PBS American Experience series.

In Montgomery County, his work is woven into the landscape: if you see a historical marker by the roadside, there is a good chance it features one of his images. His photographs appear on markers such as the Andrew Small Academy and Origins of Darnestown markers, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station marker in Gaithersburg, From Trolley to Trail in Bethesda, the African American Heritage Walking Tour in Rockville, and the 19th Century Crossroads marker in Darnestown, as well as on an interpretive sign along the trail at Watters Smith Memorial State Park in West Virginia.

Early photographic “special effects”

One especially intriguing part of the collection is Lewis Reed’s experimentation with manipulated images. Long before digital cameras and Photoshop, he was creating imaginative “special effects,” a full century ahead of his time. His techniques included hand-tinting, double exposures, applied handwork, and playful compositions that introduce ghostly figures into the frame, all achieved with the limited tools of the early twentieth century. These experiments reveal not only technical skill but also a remarkable sense of creativity and humor.

Preserving historical authenticity

All images presented here are scanned from prints made from Lewis Reed’s original glass plate negatives, which were commonly used from the 1880s through the late 1920s. No digital retouching or alteration has been applied, preserving the photographs as faithfully as possible and maintaining their historical character.

Click here to step back in time and explore the lives, places, and stories captured through Lewis Reed’s camera.

Autumn at Pleasant Hills: A Pumpkin Harvest in Early Darnestown

In the early 1900s, Darnestown was still firmly rooted in agriculture, with large family farms, open fields, and country roads defining much of the surrounding landscape. Pleasant Hills was part of that rural world, and the Kelley family was among the local families whose farm products were well known throughout the area.

Lewis Reed’s photograph of three men standing in Thomas Kelley’s pumpkin field preserves a rare glimpse of that earlier Darnestown. The men are clearly not farm workers at harvest. Dressed in jackets, hats, and polished shoes, they appear to have simply stopped among the pumpkins and posed for Reed’s camera, turning an ordinary autumn visit into a lasting record of local history.

Thomas Kelley’s Pumpkin Patch, Darnestown

Men gathering pumpkins in Thomas Kelley’s field near Pleasant Hills in the Darnestown area, early 1900s. Lewis Reed’s photographs preserved not only community celebrations, but also the seasonal traditions of everyday life in Montgomery County. Photograph by Lewis Reed.

Pleasant Hills was a substantial working farm, and the Kelley family became especially associated with fresh produce, including the well-known “Kelley Corn” wagon that traveled through the community. Pumpkins were part of the farm’s autumn landscape at a time when seasonal produce came directly from nearby fields and local farms remained closely tied to everyday life.

Lewis Reed knew this countryside well. Raised in Darnestown, he photographed the people, farms, roads, homes, and small moments that surrounded him. At the time, such scenes would have seemed entirely ordinary, but today they preserve details that written records rarely capture: how people dressed, where they gathered, and what the rural landscape looked like before suburban growth transformed much of western Montgomery County.

That is what gives this photograph its lasting importance. It is more than a picture of three men in a pumpkin field. It is a surviving fragment of early Darnestown, preserving Pleasant Hills as part of a farming community that has largely disappeared from the modern landscape.

October 1915: The Birth of a Rockville Automobile Legacy

1916 Rockville Garage

Rockville Garage, 1916. The early automobile garage at the intersection of Rockville Pike and Veirs Mill Road, where Lewis Reed and his partners were building the business that would soon become Reed Brothers Dodge.

111 Years Ago This Month, Reed Brothers Dodge Began Its Remarkable Journey

In October 1915, automobiles were still something of a novelty on the roads of Montgomery County. Horses and wagons remained common, many rural roads were unpaved, and owning a motorcar was far from an everyday experience. Yet the automobile was beginning to change how Americans traveled, worked, and connected with the world beyond their own communities.

It was against this backdrop, 111 years ago this month, that the story of Reed Brothers Dodge began.

Only a few months earlier, in July 1915, Lewis Reed had entered the automobile business with Roy and Griffith Warfield in a newly established enterprise known as Rockville Garage. The business operated at the busy intersection of Rockville Pike and Veirs Mill Road, an important crossroads at the edge of Rockville.

The location already had a brief connection to the automobile trade. In 1914, Lee Ricketts and his sons had operated an Overland automobile agency there, one of the earliest automobile sales operations in the area. Lewis Reed was not involved with the Overland agency, but the activity at the site reflected just how quickly the automobile was beginning to find a place in everyday life.

A New Automobile Company Comes to Rockville

The decisive moment came in October 1915, when Rockville Garage secured a franchise to sell Dodge Brothers Motor Cars.

The timing was remarkable.

John and Horace Dodge had introduced their first automobile only the year before, in late 1914. The brothers were already highly respected within the automobile industry, having supplied engines, transmissions, and other components to some of Detroit’s leading manufacturers before placing the Dodge name on a car of their own.

Their new automobile quickly earned a reputation for sturdy construction and reliability.

Far from Detroit, in the small county seat of Rockville, Lewis Reed and his partners recognized an opportunity.

The arrival of the Dodge Brothers franchise gave Rockville Garage an automobile line that would ultimately define the business for nearly a century.

At the time, no one could have known what that decision would become.

There was no sprawling dealership, no large showroom filled with rows of new cars, and certainly no modern service department. Early automobile dealers were often mechanics, salesmen, gasoline merchants, tire repairmen, and problem-solvers all at once. Keeping the early motorist on the road could be as important as selling the automobile itself.

Rockville Garage grew out of that pioneering era.

Original Owners Rockville Garage, 1915

Original Owners of Rockville Garage, 1915. Lewis Reed with Roy and Griffith Warfield, the original partners in the Rockville automobile business that would become Reed Brothers Dodge.

Building a Business in the Early Automobile Age

Lewis Reed was a skilled mechanic as well as a businessman, an important combination when automobiles still required frequent adjustments and repairs. During the early years, the garage represented several makes in addition to Dodge, a common practice among automobile dealers of the period.

But Dodge gradually became the name most closely associated with the business.

The garage also sold gasoline, tires, accessories, and even farm equipment. Automobile dealerships of the 1910s were rarely limited to the sale of passenger cars. They served a community that was only beginning to discover what motorized transportation could accomplish.

The automobile was changing Montgomery County one road and one family at a time.

Farmers could travel farther to market. Doctors could reach patients more quickly. Businesses could move goods over greater distances. Families could visit relatives and neighboring towns without relying entirely on railroads or horse-drawn transportation.

Rockville Garage became part of that transformation.

From Rockville Garage to Reed Brothers Dodge

In 1916, Lewis Reed purchased a one-third interest in the business. Three years later, in 1919, he bought out the Warfield brothers.

That August, Lewis’s brother Edgar Reed joined him as a partner.

The business then took the name by which generations of Montgomery County residents would come to know it:

Reed Brothers Dodge.

Although the Reed Brothers name arrived in 1919, the foundation had already been laid four years earlier. The Dodge franchise obtained in October 1915 established the relationship with the automobile manufacturer that would endure through extraordinary changes in both the company and the community surrounding it.

The dealership survived the Great Depression, automobile shortages during World War II, changing highways, suburban growth, dealership relocations, corporate changes within Chrysler, and dramatic changes in the automobile itself.

Through it all, the Reed family remained connected to the business.

Three generations would ultimately guide the dealership.

An October Decision That Lasted Nearly a Century

What began at a modest roadside garage in 1915 eventually became one of Maryland’s oldest Dodge dealerships under continuous family ownership.

Reed Brothers Dodge 2006

Reed Brothers Dodge in its later years on Frederick Road. From the modest Rockville Garage of 1915 to a modern automobile dealership, the family business grew and changed with Rockville while remaining under continuous Reed family ownership until its closing in 2012.

Reed Brothers Dodge remained in business until May 1, 2012, nearly ninety-seven years after Rockville Garage first began selling Dodge Brothers automobiles.

By then, the world surrounding the dealership bore little resemblance to the one Lewis Reed had known in October 1915.

The dirt and gravel roads had become highways. Rockville had grown from a small county seat into a major suburban community. The simple open touring cars of the early automobile age had evolved into vehicles filled with technology that the first motorists could scarcely have imagined.

Yet the thread connecting those two eras remained remarkably intact.

It began with a small garage, an emerging automobile company from Detroit, and a young businessman willing to place his future in a machine that was changing America.

One hundred eleven years ago this month, in October 1915, Rockville Garage became a Dodge Brothers dealer.

That moment marked the beginning of a relationship that would span nearly a century and become the foundation of Reed Brothers Dodge.

What may have seemed at the time like a promising new business opportunity became something much larger: a family legacy, a Rockville institution, and an enduring chapter in Montgomery County’s automotive history.

Remembering My Mother on Her Birthday

Every year when September 24 arrives, my thoughts turn to my mother, Mary Jane (Reed) Gartner. This year, rather than simply remembering her birthday, I find myself thinking about something that has become increasingly meaningful to me: how much of the history I have spent years preserving grew out of the many conversations we shared and the memories she passed along to me.

Mary Jane (Reed) Gartner (1922–2019).

My mother was the daughter of Lewis Reed, founder of Reed Brothers Dodge, and she grew up surrounded by a family business that became part of Rockville history. Long before I understood how valuable her memories would become, she was my connection to an earlier generation of the Reed family. During countless afternoon visits, we would sit together and go through boxes and albums filled with old photographs. Many had no names, dates, or locations written on them. I would hold up a photograph and ask, “Who is this?” or “Where was this taken?”

More often than not, she knew.

A face that meant nothing to me would bring back a name. A house, automobile, storefront, or familiar stretch of road would trigger a story. Sometimes one photograph led to another memory, and before long I was hearing about people and places that otherwise might have disappeared from our family history.

At the time, I don’t think either of us realized just how important those afternoons would become.

Years later, as I began researching and writing the history of Reed Brothers Dodge and organizing my grandfather’s enormous photographic collection, I repeatedly returned to the information my mother had shared with me. Her memories helped put names to faces, places to photographs, and stories into context. They became part of the foundation for this blog, my books, and the historical exhibits that followed.

In many ways, she became one of my most important historical sources.

Jeanne Gartner and Mary Jane Gartner

A special Christmas memory with my mother, Mary Jane (Reed) Gartner, in 2004.

But what I inherited from my mother went far beyond family history.

She taught me to approach life with determination and curiosity. One of her favorite sayings was, “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.” She also refused to accept the word “can’t”. If there was a problem, her instinct was to look for a way around it rather than a reason to give up.

That philosophy stayed with me throughout my life.

Perhaps that is also why she never allowed age to dictate what she could learn. At 90, she joined Facebook. She learned to Skype and text, used an iPhone and a Windows PC, and approached new technology with the same curiosity she brought to so many other things. Instead of saying something was too complicated or that she was too old to learn it, she simply learned it.

She was also my greatest supporter.

One memory I especially treasure is seeing her in the audience at Glenview Mansion in 2016 when I received the Arthur M. Wagman Award for Historic Preservation Communication from Peerless Rockville. I was being recognized for documenting and sharing Rockville history, but so much of that work had been made possible by the woman sitting in the audience.

When I saw the pride on her face, I knew the moment belonged to both of us.

My mother died on September 10, 2019, just two weeks before her 97th birthday. Yet in a very real sense, she remains present in the work I continue to do. Every time I identify another photograph, uncover another piece of family history, or share another story from the Reed Brothers Dodge archives, I am building upon something she helped preserve.

Historical preservation is often thought of in terms of photographs, documents, newspapers, and artifacts. But some of our most valuable history lives only in people’s memories. If we are fortunate enough to ask the questions while those people are still with us, their memories can become part of the permanent record.

I was fortunate.

I asked the questions.

And my mother told me the stories.

Today, on what would have been her 104th birthday, I remember my mom not only as Lewis Reed’s daughter or as part of the Reed Brothers Dodge story, but as my mother, my greatest supporter, and the person who helped me understand that preserving history often begins with simply sitting down, listening, and remembering.

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Mom.

The stories you shared with me are still being told.

Manipulated Photography: The Artful Illusions of Lewis Reed

Long before modern editing tools existed, Lewis Reed was already experimenting with ways to reshape a photograph. He layered exposures to place the same person in two places at once, coaxed ghostly figures to appear in broad daylight, sketched new landscapes directly onto his negatives, and teamed up with his daughter Mary Jane to bring soft color to black-and-white scenes.

His collection of manipulated photographs showcases his extraordinary creativity and versatility, employing methods such as hand-tinting, double exposure, applied handwork, and surreal ghost-like effects.

This special spotlight explores the imaginative world of Lewis Reed’s manipulated photography, a body of work that reveals his curiosity, sense of humor, and remarkable skill with the photographic tools of the early 1900s.

The Art of Double Exposure: Two Worlds on One Plate

double exposure

Lewis Reed and the same two ladies with bundles of flowers appear in this photo twice: standing on a bridge over Seneca Creek at Black Rock Mill, and again on the left at the foot of the bridge. The photo was taken in 1905.

Among his most striking techniques was double exposure. With precision and careful planning, Reed could layer two images onto a single glass plate.

A favorite example is a photograph where the same person appears twice in the same scene–once on a bridge, and again at the foot of it. The slight vertical seam where the exposures meet is still visible today, a reminder of the handmade magic behind the picture.

Without the benefit of modern editing tools, Reed achieved what we would now call a “clone effect”–over a century before Photoshop.

Ghosts in the Frame: Early Special Effects

Lewis Reed’s "Ghost" Photograph

Surrealistic, ghost-like effect of Lewis Reed (right) standing next to a tree in the middle of train track.

Reed also created what he called “ghost photographs.” To produce them, he pre-exposed a faint figure onto a glass plate and then photographed a second subject over it. The result: an incompletely exposed ghostly image as well as a ‘sitter’ looking perfectly unaware.

Hand-Drawn Fantasies: Adding Scenery by Pencil

Re-touched Photograph

Lewis Reed himself drew on the glass negative, using a hard graphite pencil, to create the illusion of a couple gazing out on a mountain range, which was not part of the original photograph.

One of Lewis Reed’s most artistic manipulations involved hand-drawn backgrounds. He sometimes sketched new landscapes directly onto the negative–mountains, cliffs, or textured skies–before printing the final photograph. The finished piece blends photography and illustration in a way that feels surprisingly modern, reminiscent of today’s mixed-media art.

A Collaboration in Color: Hand-Tinting by Mary Jane Reed

Hand-Tinted Photography

Amanda Reed after hand-tinting by Mary Jane (Reed) Gartner. Pastel was apparently a good choice for coloration.

Color film did not exist in the early 1900s, but Reed’s daughter, Mary Jane Reed, added life to his images with delicate watercolor hand-tinting. She brushed pale blues into skies, warm tones into skin, and soft greens into landscapes, giving Reed’s photographs an entirely new dimension. This father-daughter collaboration bridges technical skill and artistic intuition, two generations creating together.

Lewis Reed’s masterful use of hand-tinting, double exposure, and detailed handwork reveals not only his artistic creativity but also his technical skill in an era long before digital editing tools. These techniques allowed him to transform ordinary photographs into captivating visual stories full of playfulness and surreal charm. His work stands as a testament to the time, patience, and imagination required to manipulate photos by hand. For those intrigued by Lewis Reed’s fascinating photo manipulations and the art of early 20th-century photographic editing, the full series is available for exploration on this blog under the “manipulated photography” category.

For more on manipulated photography, visit the series: https://reedbrothersdodgehistory.com/category/manipulated-photography/.

Three Cars, Three Nights at the Rockville VFD Carnival

For generations of Rockville residents, summer once meant carnival time. Each year, the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department Carnival transformed its grounds along Rockville Pike into a gathering place filled with rides, games, music, food, and crowds of families and friends.

But in August 1956, the excitement reached another level.

During the final three nights of that year’s carnival, three brand-new automobiles were given away, one each night.

And one of them came from Reed Brothers Dodge.

Rockville Carnival - Montgomery County Sentinel, August 20, 1953

The Rockville Volunteer Fire Department Carnival midway along Rockville Pike was a familiar summer gathering place for generations of local residents.

The Rockville Volunteer Fire Department had been holding its annual carnival since 1932. What began as a fundraiser grew into a Rockville tradition, eventually occupying approximately ten acres along Rockville Pike, directly across the highway from Reed Brothers Dodge.

Unlike a traveling carnival, much of the Rockville operation was permanent. Fire department members constructed and maintained the familiar red-and-white buildings on the grounds, along with a large dance pavilion built in 1947. For most of the year the property stood quiet. When carnival week arrived, the lights came on and the grounds were transformed.

Rockville VFD Carnival, 1950

Carnival entrance from the Pike, c. 1950. Photo credit: RVFD Photo Archives.

Reed Brothers was more than simply a neighbor across the Pike. The Reed family’s connection with the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department dated to the department’s organization in 1921. Edgar Reed and his brother Philip were among its original members, establishing a relationship between the Reed family and the fire department that continued for decades.

By then, Lewis Reed and Edgar Reed were operating Reed Brothers Dodge just across the road. The dealership had been selling Dodge automobiles in Rockville since 1915, and the two institutions would become familiar landmarks along Rockville Pike as the town grew around them.

Closer view of the carnival grounds reveals Reed Brothers Dodge directly across Rockville Pike. The dealership and carnival were longtime neighbors, while the Reed family’s connection with the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department dated to its organization in 1921.

By the 1950s, the automobile giveaway had become one of the most anticipated traditions of the Rockville VFD Carnival. A brand-new car was a spectacular grand prize, and local automobile dealers helped keep the tradition going over the years.

Few carnivals, however, could have matched what happened in 1956.

On August 16, the Montgomery County Sentinel announced the carnival’s final three nights with a headline certain to attract attention:

“Three Cars Given Away At Rockville Carnival.”

Rockville VFD Carnival

The Montgomery County Sentinel reported on August 16, 1956, that three new automobiles would be given away during the carnival’s final three nights.

Montgomery County was expanding rapidly, new neighborhoods were appearing, and the family automobile was becoming an essential part of everyday life.

A new car wasn’t simply another carnival prize. It was the grand prize.

For Reed Brothers, participating in the automobile giveaway was a natural extension of its longstanding connection to the fire department and the community. By 1956, the dealership had been selling Dodge automobiles in Rockville for more than forty years, and its buildings, signs, and rows of new cars were a familiar sight directly across the Pike from the carnival grounds.

The three automobiles were not the only attractions. The 1956 carnival offered rides, games, dancing, live entertainment, food, and prizes ranging from cooking utensils to stuffed bears. Admission was just 20 cents for adults, while children were admitted free.

Behind all the festivities was an important purpose. The Sentinel described the carnival as the culmination of a year’s work by members of the fire department and its principal source of financial support. At the time, the department received no tax money for its services.

Every admission, meal, game, and prize ticket helped support the firefighters who served the community.

Rockville VFD Carnival

A new Dodge offered as a grand prize at a later Rockville VFD Carnival. Automobile giveaways were a popular carnival tradition for many years. Photo credit: RVFD Photo Archives.

New automobiles would continue to be among the carnival’s most exciting prizes in the years that followed.

The Rockville VFD Carnival eventually disappeared as the community and the demands upon the fire department changed. Reed Brothers Dodge remained across the Pike for decades longer.

Today, photographs and newspaper accounts preserve a glimpse of an earlier Rockville, when the annual firemen’s carnival brought the community together and buying a carnival ticket might result in considerably more than a stuffed bear.

You might just drive home in a brand-new Dodge.

Sources:
Montgomery County Sentinel, August 16, 1956
Rockville Volunteer Fire Department historical archives
Reed Brothers Dodge History archives