Old Rockville High School First Baseball Team, 1910
Old Rockville High School First Baseball Team, 1910. Photo by Lewis Reed
Front: Billy Beck, Tom Young, Ed Storey, Harry Beall, Roy Warfield.
Back: (first name unknown) Hicks, Lucius Lamar, name unknown, name unknown, Jesse Higgins, name unknown, name unknown, Fred Hays, Roger Whiteford.
Holding pennant: Griffith Warfield
The Montgomery County Historical Society was able to identify several people in the photograph. If anyone can help put a name to a face, please leave a comment.
First Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival, May 3, 1924
Here the parade participants circle the racetrack as spectators view the parade from a grandstand. There was no caption on this photo, but I’m guessing it might possibly be the VMI Regimental Band. Photo by Lewis Reed
Winchester, with its long history in the apple-growing industry, chose to honor the beauty and bounty of the apple blossom, beginning in the year 1924. On Saturday, May 3, 1924, the first Festival was a one-day event. To kick off the celebration, the parade assembled at the old fairgrounds just off Fairmont Avenue and marched through the streets of Winchester to the Royal Pavilion on the grounds of Handley High School.
Beginning in 1925, the first of three pageants was professionally produced by the John B. Rogers Production Company and staged on a dais at the fairgrounds. In 1928 the outdoor pageants were moved to the steps and esplanade of Handley High School. The pageant earned a reputation as being one of the most beautiful outdoor extravaganzas in the nation. The festival was suspended during World War II, and resumed in 1946 with its first celebrity grand marshals, Bing Crosby in 1948 and Bob Hope in 1949.
The below previously unpublished photos (dated 1925) from Lewis Reed’s album are what appears to be some of the very first photos of the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival held at the old fairgrounds in Winchester, Virginia. As always, click on an image to enlarge and scroll through gallery.
Source: thebloom.com
U.S. Capitol Then & Now… 108 Years of Change
You might not realize how much Washington DC has changed until you look back and see what it looked like in the past. I thought it would be fun to revisit an historic location using one of Lewis Reed’s original photographs for “then” and a stock image from today for “now” to see what differences are visible. In the following photographs, you can see how the United States Capitol looks both the same and completely different from a century ago.
U.S. Capitol (THEN): Seen in the black & white photograph taken by Lewis Reed in 1910, is the United States Capitol in Washington, DC. Visible in both photos is the white marble Peace Monument that stands in the circle to the west of the U.S. Capitol at Pennsylvania Avenue and First Street, NW. A streetcar can also be seen in the black & white photo. The Pennsylvania Ave streetcar line ran from Georgetown, across Pennsylvania Avenue, past the White House, up to Capitol Hill, and then down to the Navy Yard. With no stop signs, speed limits, or lane lines, the streets of the early 1900s were completely different.
U.S. Capitol as seen from Pennsylvania Ave in 1910. Photo by Lewis Reed
U.S. Capitol (NOW): The same view over a century later hasn’t changed much… except for the traffic and Segway riders with fanny packs.
On Pennsylvania Ave and U.S. Capitol building today. A Segway tour is stopped along the bike lanes.
Warning For Driving Faster Than a Walk
Photo by Lewis Reed
This undated photograph from Lewis Reed’s Collection evokes a sense of nostalgia for slower-paced times. Literally slower: The sign over the bridge entrance reads – “$10 fine for driving faster than a walk” — quite a hit to the money pouch in those days.
A Family Photo Postcard Jackpot
Postcard front was taken by Lewis Reed at Pope’s Creek Maryland on the Potomac River ca. 1915
Postcard addressed to Ethlene Thomas from L. Reed. Note the cost of the postage stamp is just one penny.
Lewis Reed’s albums contain several hundred of these photo postcards dating from approximately 1907-1915. What makes this particular photo postcard so special is, it was sent from Lewis Reed to Ethlene Thomas. Lewis Reed married the former Ethlene Thomas of Frederick County on June 15, 1920. This is a real photo postcard — one in which the photographic paper on which the photo was developed was itself then sent as the postcard. The stamp is a one penny stamp with the image of Benjamin Franklin. The Benjamin Franklin series stamp was issued by the U.S. Post Office between 1908 and 1922.
What I love about the address is how it’s addressed merely to “Miss Ethlene Thomas, New Market, Frederick Co, MD. I have a feeling, however, that the postcard would have found it’s way even had “New Market” been left off the card.
The card reads:
Dear Friend,
You can look for me Friday afternoon between 6 and 7 o’clock or sooner, if it is not raining. I will be there sooner if I can.
As ever, L. Reed
Kodak made photo paper in standard 3 1/2 by 5 1/2 postcard size with “Post Card” printed on the back. Lewis Reed developed all of his own photographs. He had a darkroom in his house — in the kitchen, to be exact — and worked at night to develop the negatives. This gave him the ability to take the paper into his dark room and produce a real photo postcard. This one is definitely a treasure.
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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 
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