Early 1900s Frederick Fair Parking Lot
Frederick Fair Parking Lot, circa 1914. Photo by Lewis Reed
This fascinating scene of hundreds of vintage cars parked in the Frederick Fair parking lot was taken by Lewis Reed. What is fascinating to me is, with all of these early cars painted in black, how on earth would you find your car in the parking lot?
The Frederick County Fair is one of the oldest agricultural fairs in the state of Maryland dating back to 1822 when it was known as the Cattle Show and Fair. Over the years the fair has changed names several times. Today, the Frederick County Fair is officially named the Great Frederick Fair. The GREAT Frederick Fair is celebrating 154 years in 2016 (Sept. 16-24).
Dodge Car “Cathedral Lights”
1917 Rockville Garage
Until 1920, Dodge sported a set of six hexagonal windows in the back of each passenger cabin on both their Touring and Roaster models. These were called “cathedral lights” and became the first trademark feature to make Dodge vehicles stand out from the rest. This 1917 photo of Lewis Reed’s Rockville Garage shows an early Dodge Motor Car parked in front with the exclusive Dodge Brothers cathedral-style rear curtain windows.
1960s Full Service Gulf Station
Reed Brothers Dodge Gulf Gas Station
This is a circa 1968 photo of the Reed Brothers Dodge Gulf Gasoline station. The famous Gulf “ice box” design dates back to late 1930’s and there were probably more of these built than any single one of the later Gulf designs. A Coca Cola machine is visible in front of the white Dodge Dart parked in front of the service bay. The sign in the grass to the right of the blue ’58 Plymouth (Belvedere?) reads, “We’re Making Deals on Gulf Tires”.
The office/sales area occupied the right corner, facing the adjacent road Rockville Pike. Attached to the office are two quick service bays with roll-down doors. Each bay of the bays served a specific purpose. One bay contained a hydraulic lift to raise cars for the servicing of tires, lubrication, and underside parts. A central in-floor drain to catch water runoff during car washes was utilized in the second bay. The station also contained a men’s and women’s restroom. A concrete ramp on the left led up to the second floor Auto Glass and Body Repair Shop.
The below 1940 architectural plan and rendering of a Gulf service station epitomize the defining design characteristics of this service station type.
1940 architectural plan and rendering of a
Gulf service station
Reed Brothers Dodge was the first Gulf gasoline dealer in the Washington, D.C. area. In 1915, they began selling gas at their original location in Old Rockville at the triangle at Veirs Mill Road and Rockville Pike. Their first gas station consisted of a single pump. Later, in addition to gas, they carried a full line of Gulf lubricants, Goodyear tires, Willard batteries, complimentary road maps, free air and water, and many other well known brands of merchandise to meet their patrons needs.
July 4, 1922: First MCPD Posing in Front of Reed Brothers Dodge
This blog entry is posted today to commemorate the anniversary of the Montgomery County Police Department. It was 94 years ago on July 4, 1922 that the MCPD was first established. In those days, Montgomery County was farm country, sparsely populated, automobiles sharing dirt roads with horse-drawn wagons. But it was changing into a proper suburb, and there needed to be a police department.
Posing in front of Reed Brothers Dodge on July 4, 1922 Chief Charles Cooley, center, and his men of the first mounted unit of the Montgomery County Police Force, were on their first day of duty. (click image to enlarge)
The MCPD consisted of five officers and a Chief. Each of the officers was issued a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, a .38 Smith & Wesson handgun, a black jack, law book and was allotted $300.00 a year for the upkeep of their motorcycle.
Pictured left to right: Earl Burdine, Lawrence Clagett, Guy Jones, Chief Charles Cooley, Leroy Rodgers, and Oscar Gaither. Photo by Lewis Reed
Lewis Reed Photos: Steam-Powered Engines
Looking back at photography from the past is a fascinating experience for me. Since I started this blog, I have had the opportunity to look through my grandfather’s extensive collection of photographs from locations all across the country. The majority of his photos are more than 100 years old and, unfortunately, are lacking labels and/or dates, which requires quite a bit of research and a little photo detective work on my part. Adding up the clues can help solve the mystery, date, and help identify the images. Google sometimes surprises me with its capabilities.
The below previously unpublished photos (dated 1909) from Lewis Reed’s album are what appears to be some of the early machines that helped build America. Steam traction engines, or steam rollers and road locomotives as they were sometimes called, were the predecessor to today’s modern farm tractor. They could plow, they could haul, and you could put a big belt on the fly wheel and drive a saw mill; whatever you wanted to do. They were also used as a transportable power source. The engines would normally run on coal, wood, or even straw, or whatever would build a fire. The photos shown here were dated 1909.
1909: SAWMILL POWERED BY STEAM TRACTION ENGINE – photograph by Lewis Reed
As a Michigan farm boy, Henry Ford recorded his first sight of a traction engine: “I remember that engine as though I had seen it only yesterday, for it was the first vehicle other than horse drawn that I had ever seen. It was intended to drive threshing machines and power sawmills and was simply a portable engine and a boiler mounted on wheels.” It was the steam traction engine that inspired Ford to design and manufacture automobiles.
1909: SAWMILL POWERED BY STEAM TRACTION ENGINE – photograph by Lewis Reed
PORTABLE ENGINE WITH CHIMNEY SHOWING THE LACK OF SELF-DRIVEN WHEELS – photograph by Lewis Reed
A portable engine is a type of self-contained steam engine and boiler combination that may be moved from site to site. Although bearing a strong family resemblance, in both appearance and (stationary) operation, the portable engine is not classed as a traction engine as it is not self-propelled.
STEAM ROAD ROLLER – photograph by Lewis Reed
Steam Road Roller: This take-off of the steam traction engine was designed specifically for road building and flattening ground mimicking today’s modern rollers used for compacting road surfaces. A single, heavy roller replaced the front wheels and axle and a smoother rear wheels replaced larger wheels without strakes. (strake – name for the diagonal strips cast into or riveted onto the wheel rims to provide traction on unmade ground).
STEAM ROAD ROLLER – photograph by Lewis Reed
Photos cannot convey the raw power of a steam tractor: the way its pistons, valves, gears, and wheels are locked in constant motion. You really have to see this machinery in action.
Watch video of a 1916 Case steam engine tractor power a sawmill.
Books
Related Resources
Copyright Notice
Reed Brothers Dodge History (1915-2012) by Jeanne Gartner is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Reed Brothers Dodge History 1915 – 2012 
Recent Comments