1920s Auto Races, Rockville Fair
This race car is a total mystery…what on earth is it? It appears to be a two-man race car. Photo by Lewis Reed
Early action shots like these are rare, however, the following photographs were taken by Lewis Reed at the Rockville Fairgrounds in the early 1910-1920s. The fairgrounds were just outside Rockville, about where Richard Montgomery High School is today. The Fair lasted four days, from August 21st to the 24th, and drew visitors from local counties, Washington, and Baltimore.
Dirt track action. Photo by Lewis Reed
August 1923. Auto race, Rockville Fair
Crowds at the auto racetrack, Rockville Fair, August 1923
The photo above depicts an auto race at the Rockville fairgrounds. The photo of a harness race below was taken from approximately the same vantage point, which you don’t see very often in pictures from that era. Fairground race tracks, typically one-mile or half-mile dirt racing ovals with wide sweeping curves and grandstands for spectators, were easily adapted for the new sport of automobile racing.
Harness race at the Rockville fairgrounds, circa 1910. Same vantage point as auto race above. Photo by Lewis Reed
Below is a 1923 Washington Post ad for auto race at the Rockville Fair.
Sources: Dirt Track Auto Racing, 1919-1941 – A Pictorial History By Don Radbruch
Shorpy.com – a vintage photo blog of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s
Flashback: Reed Brothers Baseball Team, circa 1920
Most likely, Rockville’s first experience with baseball was during the Civil War on the fields where Richard Montgomery High School now stands. It was known as “Camp Lincoln” because of the Union encampment there, and Federal soldiers helped popularize the new game they brought from the North. After the Civil War those fields – known as the Rockville Fairgrounds – continued to be a popular place for baseball.
Reed Brothers Dodge had a company baseball team that played on those same fields. The photos below were taken by Lewis Reed on a field at the Rockville Fairgrounds circa early 1920s.
Reed Brothers Dodge Baseball Team, circa early 1920s. Photo by Lewis Reed
Reed Brothers Dodge Baseball Team, circa early 1920s. This photo s taken at Welsh Field, which is now the site of the County Office Building. The house in the background was in right field. Photo by Lewis Reed
Pat Murray (Parts Dept Manager), keeping score. Photo by Lewis Reed
Reed Brothers Baseball Team on field at Rockville Fairgrounds, circa early 1920s. Photo by Lewis Reed
Lewis Reed Photos: Remembering Trolley Cars of Rockville’s Past
This special post is a collection of early trolley car photos that were taken by Lewis Reed in the early 20th century. I wanted to share them because they offer a visual history of a part of Rockville’s transportation past.
With photography for a hobby, one that began even before automobiles were around, Lewis Reed had amassed a large library of photographs of buildings, farm carts drawn by oxen, trolley cars, and other historic spots in Maryland, Washington, DC and Virginia. Many of his early photographs are now part of the Montgomery County Historical Society photo archives.
Below are some vintage (circa early 1900s) trolley car photographs from Lewis Reed’s collection (click on photos to enlarge):
Lewis Reed took this photo of a trolley bound for Rockville with a five-by-four box camera which produced an image on a glass plate. Note the cow catcher on the front of the trolley.
The route of the Rockville trolley car started at the Washington terminus at Wisconsin and M streets in Northwest D.C., went up through Rockville along Rockville Pike and Montgomery Avenue to Laird Street and back again. From 1900 – 1935, the trolley cars went past Reed Brothers Dodge as they traveled up Rockville Pike.
1915 – Rockville Garage first gas station – a single pump. View looking West on Main Street of Rockville showing an early Trolley car. Also in the background is the old St Mary’s Cemetery.
Late 1920′s. Note the unpaved dirt road on Rockville Pike and trolley tracks running past Reed Brothers Dodge
Trolley Wreck – Montrose Rd & Rt 355
Trolley Wreck – Montrose Rd & 355
Georgetown Trolley Car
Trolley Car Interior and Passengers
Western Avenue car barn for the streetcars that served the Georgetown-Tenelytown-Bethesda-Rockville line
A car barn is the streetcar equivalent of a garage for buses. It’s a covered facility in which streetcars were stored overnight, cleaned and given light repairs before the next day’s run. The car barn for the trolleys at the time was the second Western Avenue car barn for the streetcars that served the Georgetown-Tenelytown-Bethesda-Rockville line. It was located at on west side of Wisconsin at between Harrison and Jennifer. It was demolished and later replaced by a purpose-built bus garage which is still in use by WMATA. The National Capital Trolley Museum was instrumental in helping to identify this car barn.
Map of the Rockville Trolley Line 1900-1935 – Peerless Rockville
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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 
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