Reed Brothers Dodge Yearbook Ads from 1930-1957

Reed Brothers Dodge was always a supporter of local high school yearbooks. The advertising section at the back of high school yearbooks offer a glimpse at the businesses of the town the school is in, which can be particularly useful for small towns that may not have had their own city directories. The listings usually always included addresses for the businesses, and sometimes, photographs of the businesses themselves.

A blurb preceding the 1939 Richard Montgomery High School Rocket Yearbook reads:

The folks who have advertised here have a civic interest in Rockville. They manifest this interest by their advertisement in the ROCKET. Now you ROCKET owners do your part by patronizing those who have an interest in bettering your school and your community!

The following yearbook ads from Richard Montgomery, Gaithersburg, Sherwood, Damascus and Poolesville High Schools are dated from 1930-1957. Not many high school yearbooks are online, but most of the ads below were found on E-Yearbook.com, an online resource for the largest online collection of old and new high school yearbooks on the Internet.

1930 Richard Montgomery High School “Rocket” Yearbook Ad (Rockville, MD)

1934 Richard Montgomery High School “Rocket” Yearbook Ad (Rockville, MD)

In 1930, Reed Brothers added the Plymouth line. The first Plymouth was built in 1928 and Plymouths were sold at Reed Brothers until 1969, when the brand was given to the Chrysler dealers. The fact that the phone number was just ’67′ in the ad above gives a real feeling of how different life was back then.

1935 Richard Montgomery High School “Rocket” Yearbook Ad (Rockville, MD)

1951 Sherwood High School “Leaves” Yearbook Ad (Sandy Spring, MD)

Reed Brothers Dodge had a separately maintained glass shop in their service department which was equipped to replace all types of automobile glass. In addition to auto replacements, glass was also cut for mirrors and table tops. Another innovation of the repair department was a separate paint and body shop which was located next to the glass shop. Reed Brothers was capable of repairing all makes and models from all manufacturers with factory-prepared paints available to match any color of car.

1951 Poolesville High School “Sugar Loaf Echo” Yearbook Ad (Poolesville, MD)

1954 Damascus High School “Scimitar” Yearbook Ad (Damascus, MD)

1955 Richard Montgomery High School “Rocket” Yearbook Ad (Rockville, MD)

1956 Richard Montgomery High School “Rocket” Yearbook Ad (Rockville, MD)

The photo in the ad above was taken inside the new car showroom at Reed Brothers original location at the triangle at Veirs Mill Road and Rockville Pike. The people posing in the ad are two Reed Brothers employees: W. Lester Wilson, and Evelyn Beane Norris. Lester Wilson started at Reed Brothers in 1918 as a Mechanic (and first Service Manager) and stayed for 28 years. Evelyn B. Norris joined the business in 1945 and worked as Administrative Secretary.

1956 Gaithersburg High School “Sail On” Yearbook Ad (Gaithersburg, MD)

1957 Gaithersburg High School “Sail On” Yearbook (Gaithersburg, MD)

Source: E-Yearbook.com, the largest online collection of digitized high school yearbooks