About

The History of Reed Brothers Dodge is Virtually the History of the American Automobile Business

If you wanted to read the history of the American car industry, a great place to start would be the history of Reed Brothers Dodge.

Welcome to Reed Brothers Dodge History 1915–2012. My name is Jeanne Gartner, and I am the author of this blog. Lewis Reed, the founder of Reed Brothers Dodge, was my grandfather. I launched this site in May 2012 as a tribute to him — created for, inspired by, and dedicated to preserving the remarkable legacy he began more than a century ago.

When Lewis Reed opened his dealership in October 1915, he could not have imagined he was establishing a tradition that would last 97 years and span three generations. Reed Brothers Dodge became the oldest Dodge dealership in Maryland continuously operated by the same family, and one of the oldest in the United States.

On this blog, you will find a historic timeline that tells the story of how the company came into being, grew, and adapted to nearly a century of change in the automotive industry. Business longevity of this kind is rare, and worth both celebrating and sharing.

But the story of Lewis Reed extends beyond automobiles. A passionate and accomplished photographer, he documented Montgomery County, Washington, D.C., and Virginia long before cars became commonplace. His extensive collection of photographs, many now more than 100 years old, offers a rich visual record of daily life, historic landmarks, and transformative moments in our region’s history. Many of these images are preserved today in the Montgomery History archives.

Through this blog, I hope to honor Lewis Reed’s dual legacy as both a pioneering automobile dealer and an important chronicler of his time. It is both a family story and a window into broader American history, spanning the Industrial Age, two World Wars, and into the modern era.

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Get Reed Brothers Dodge History… in a Book

In September 2012, I transformed this blog into a self-published book titled “Portrait of An Automobile Dealer.” It presents an updated, chronologically organized version of the blog’s content. A second edition followed on November 22, 2013, and the third edition, published in 2016, was honored with the Arthur M. Wagman Award for Historic Preservation Communication from Peerless Rockville. The latest Fourth Edition of Portrait of An Automobile Dealer is available through Blurb.com’s print-on-demand bookstore: https://www.blurb.com/b/12491295-portrait-of-an-automobile-dealer-fourth-edition

Get Lewis Reed’s Photograph Collection… in a Book

My second book, “Lewis Reed Photograph Collection (1898-1960)” is now available through Blurb.com print-on-demand bookstore. The book contains 374 pages and 2500+ photographs, the majority of them more than 100 years old, taken by Lewis Reed, founder of Reed Brothers Dodge. It has informative captions throughout that provide small snippets of history on the people and places pictured. If you would like to check out the hard copy book or purchase a copy, please visit: http://www.blurb.com/b/8936686-lewis-reed-photograph-collection-1898-1960

For a detailed and comprehensive history visit our Historic Timeline page.