February 12, 2025  

Demolition of Original Rockville Garage Buildings (1971)

When the state widened the roads in 1970, Reed Brothers Dodge relocated its business to a brand new service complex at 15955 Rockville Pike, several miles north of its old location across from King Farm. The buildings on the Dodge Street site were all demolished to allow for re-routing of the Veirs Mill Road and Rockville Pike intersection.

February, 1971: demolition of the original Rockville Garage buildings, which had stood on the Veirs Mill/Rockville Pike location for more than fifty years. (Montgomery History, Sentinel Photo Morgue)

Top photo from Montgomery History’s Sentinel Photo Morgue: Taken from Veirs Mill Road, the photo shows demolition of the original Rockville Garage buildings, which stood at the triangle site for more than 50 years.

Note: I think the picture captured the moment the bulldozer pushed the second story of the flat-roofed Body Shop OFF of the first, hence all the dust and debris flying in the air! Zoomed in, you can just see the edge of the old concrete ramp on the right side which led up to the Body Shop, as well as a partially completed building in the background, which I believe is the Americana Centre that opened in 1972.

Bottom photo: aerial view of the empty lot taken in 1971 after the business had been relocated and the buildings had been razed.

This photo of the Reed Brothers Dodge site was taken later in 1971, after the business had been relocated to 15955 Frederick Road and the buildings had been razed. (Montgomery History, photo by Bob Pusey)

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About Reed Brothers

I am a co-owner of the former Reed Brothers Dodge in Rockville, Maryland. Lewis Reed, the founder of Reed Brothers Dodge was my grandfather. We were a family-owned and operated car dealership in Rockville for almost a century. I served in the United States Air Force for 30 years before retiring in the top enlisted grade of Chief Master Sergeant in July 2006. In 2016, I received the Arthur M. Wagman Award for Historic Preservation Communication from Peerless Rockville for documenting the history of Reed Brothers Dodge in both blog and book format. This distinguished honor recognizes outstanding achievement by writers, educators, and historians whose work has heightened public awareness of Rockville’s architectural and cultural heritage, growth and development.

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