Then & Now: The Original 1917 Rockville Garage
Reed Brothers Dodge and the surrounding area sure has changed a lot in its almost century-long history. You might not realize how much things have changed until you look back and see what it looked like in the past. For this post, I have used one of Lewis Reed’s original photographs for “then” and a Google Maps street view image from today for “now”.
1917 view of the original Rockville Garage two-story addition. Until 1920, Dodge sported a set of six hexagonal windows in the back of each passenger cabin on 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. Parked in front is an early Dodge car with the exclusive Dodge Brothers cathedral-style rear curtain windows.
NOW: The color photograph below, is the dealership’s location today, now known as Veterans Park. In the 1970s the site was known as the Francis Scott Key Memorial Park, and later in 1988, it was permanently rededicated as Veterans Park. In the late 1960s, the state of Maryland acquired the land to widen 355 and donated the remaining sliver to the City. The connector street behind the dealership’s original location was named “Dodge Street” by the State of Maryland following the dealership’s 1941 expansion. Dodge Street today is one of the shortest roads in the State of Maryland, running between the Rockville Pike (at Richard Montgomery High School) and Veirs Mill Road, a distance of only 250 feet.
Rockville Garage (Reed Brothers Dodge) original location at the triangle today. Google Image Capture, 2021
Then and Now: Commander Hotel Ocean City MD 1930
Few hotels in Ocean City can celebrate continually trading for over 90 years. The family owners can trace their local history back over 200 years. There have been many changes in the world of travel at that time, but The Commander’s beachfront boardwalk location remains as special today as it was on the day it all began.
Commander Hotel (THEN): The Commander Hotel first opened on Memorial Day in 1930, offering 62 rooms, a full American Plan dining room, and a kitchen equipped with wood-burning stoves. The hotel featured the city’s first elevator, in-room telephone service, and both ocean and boardwalk-facing front porch with rocking chairs. During the World War II era, the hotel welcomed doctors, lawyers, and executives. Each room was equipped with blackout curtains for use at night, which protected the windows from enemy shelling from offshore submarines.
Commander Hotel on the boardwalk at Ocean City, Maryland. Photo by Lewis Reed, ca. 1930
Commander Hotel (NOW): The same view today. The Commander Hotel was, for a long time, the northernmost hotel on the Boardwalk. Its dining room was famous and the Commander outranked many other hotels, enjoying “elite” status. The facility underwent a two-stage renovation in 1979, and in 1992 the cabanas near the pool were rebuilt. The original structure was razed in 1997 and the current eight-story Commander was constructed on the 14th Street site the following year.
Commander Hotel today
Then & Now: Veirs Mill Road, 1911
Do you recognize the road pictured below? Few modern residents of Montgomery County would guess, but it is a shot of Veirs Mill Road before it was paved.
Veirs Mill Road (THEN): In the early 19th century, rural roads were often little more than muddy trails. The popularity of the car coincided with the improvement of public roads around Rockville. By 1929, when Montgomery County residents owned 13,000 cars, Rockville Pike and Montgomery Avenue had both been paved, but the less-traveled Veirs Mill Road remained a narrow dirt road for decades after that. By the end of 1935, the highway was paved as a macadam road. Today, Veirs Mill Road is a four-lane divided highway.
Veirs Mill Road looking east at Cedar Lane prior to paving, 1911. This roadway was not paved until 1935. Photo by Lewis Reed
Veirs Mill Road (NOW): Today, Veirs Mill Road is a four-lane divided highway. Google Map Link: https://goo.gl/maps/7uvDAWoYvwQ6KUUt9
Today, Veirs Mill Road is a four-lane divided highway.
Veirs Mill Road at Cedar Lane showing deep ruts in the surface, 1911. The wagon wheels and tires of the time were very thin, and would sink straight into ruts, sometimes getting stuck. Photo by Lewis Reed.
From the “Times” (Washington):
Stalled in the mud… “Although he put on the entire 20-horsepower of his machine and called in assistance of several neighbors, it was not until shovels and crowbars had been procured to move his car… he was able to resume his journey. This experience not only caused more than an hour’s delay in reaching the city but the wear and tear on himself, those who rendered assistance, and incidentally, the machine. Thus, at least two months of the life of a $3,000 auto was spent in simply traversing a short stretch of roadway.”
A view down Cedar Lane in Bethesda, 1911. Photo by Lewis Reed.
Rockville Pike’s reputation as “one of the worst pieces of main highway in the state” eventually helped initiate Maryland’s Good Roads Movement, alongside a nationwide initiative to improve America’s roads. Responding to citizen demands, the newly created State Roads Commission incorporated the Rockville Pike into the state highway system.
In 1956, President Eisenhower passed legislation to implement (arguably) the greatest public-works project in U.S. history: the Interstate Highway System.
With this, every major city in America would be connected via highway construction, and mobility within the U.S. would ideally become limitless: a giant leap from the dirt roads and muddy paths that existed at the beginning of the century.
Find photos like these and much more on Montgomery History’s online exhibit, “Montgomery County 1900-1930: Through the Lens of Lewis Reed“.
Then & Now: Emmanuel Episcopal Church (Cumberland, Maryland) 1912
Cumberland is known as the “Queen City of the Alleganys.” The National Road, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal pass through the town, which was once an Ohio Company outpost and the westernmost part of the British Empire in North America. Cumberland has changed from a trading site to a manufacturing locality, to a tourist haven over many generations.
For this post, I have used one of Lewis Reed’s original photographs for “then” and a google stock image for “now”. Taken over 113 years apart, you can see how the Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Cumberland, Maryland looks almost the same from over a century ago.
Emmanuel Episcopal Church (THEN): The Emmanuel Episcopal Church of Cumberland, Maryland in Cumberland’s Historic District is built on the foundations of Fort Cumberland, where George Washington began his military career. Although the Emmanuel parish dates from 1803, the cornerstone of the current native sandstone building was laid in 1849 and completed in 1851.
Standing at the eastern end of the Washington Street Historic District, it is one of Maryland’s examples of early Gothic Revival architecture. The church is on the former site of Fort Cumberland, and earthwork tunnels remaining from the fort run under the church. The church was constructed around 1850 and designed by Philadelphia architect John Notman.
Emmanuel Episcopal Church Cumberland, 1912. Photo by Lewis Reed
Emmanuel Episcopal Church (NOW): Emmanuel Episcopal Church is active and continues to service the city of Cumberland. Emmanuel Church is part of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. The church allows self-guided tours of the stained glass; the church also offers guided tours of the tunnels. Make contact with the church in order to arrange a tour. Emmanuel Episcopal Church is part of the Washington Street Historic District, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Emmanuel Episcopal Church Cumberland today. Google image.
Source: Wikipedia
Then & Now: The New Raleigh Hotel Washington DC, 1912
Some of the city’s oldest hotels not only have a long history of storied visitors and impressive tales, but they’ve shaped the city’s landscape for decades and perhaps centuries. However, for every Hay-Adams, Willard Continental and Morrison-Clark, there’s a hotel like the the Raleigh Hotel that’s either been converted and or destroyed entirely.
Raleigh Hotel (THEN): Along with the Willard, the Raleigh Hotel was one of the largest and grandest hotels in Washington in the first part of the twentieth century. It held a commanding position on Pennsylvania Avenue across from the Old Post Office Building and was famous as a Mecca for patrons of the performing arts. In 1911, the building was razed and rebuilt as a 13-story Beaux Arts hotel.
The recently completed Raleigh Hotel at Pennsylvania Ave and 12th Street NW, built on the site of the previous Raleigh Hotel. Photo taken by Lewis Reed, ca. 1912
Raleigh Hotel (NOW): The hotel closed in 1963, its furnishings were sold off, and it was demolished a year later. Its replacement, a 14-story office building at 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, was completed in 1968, and it still stands on the site today.
The site of the Raleigh as it appears today.
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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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