Farming Out Business
During World War II, Reed Brothers Dodge had no new cars to sell for three and a half years. When manufacturers halted car production and many dealers went bankrupt, Lewis Reed converted his car showroom into a display room and sold GE washing machines and other large appliances to fill the gap. After the end of World War II, the car boom came and the automobile assembly lines were back in action. The first car after the war was the 1946 Dodge, which sold for about $800.
Car salesmen back in the 1940s would drive as far as 35 miles to deliver cars to their spread-out farmer customers. Lewis Reed allotted specific sales territory to his salesmen in four different directions from the dealership. The salesmen spent all day in the outlying areas, because the farm people in Poolesville, Rockville, Barnesville and Spencerville had no time to go to a showroom. Lee Gartner (Lewis Reed’s son-in-law) spent his summers on his grandfather’s farm and it was Mr. Lewis Reed who brought his grandfather’s car to him. Three of the four salesmen at the time were Francis O. Day, Raleigh S. Chinn and Benjamin Thompson.
At that time, Reed Brothers was selling about eight new cars a month and most sales resulted from knocking on people’s doors. It was direct person to person sales contact, relationship building and trust – all built and sealed on a handshake.
Fill’er Up: Reed Brothers Full Service Gasoline Station
Do you remember full service gas stations? I sure do. As a baby boomer growing up in the 60s, I remember Reed Brothers Dodge as a full service gasoline station. The uniformed attendant would greet the customer by name, fill the car up with gas, wipe the windshield, check the tire pressures and check under the hood. Back then, getting a tank of gas could take up to 10-15 minutes per person. I used to love to hear the bell ding after every gallon pumped. Gulf had orange foam balls you could place on your car’s antenna and they also gave away things like pens, key chains, calendars and road maps.
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. Reed Brothers discontinued offering this product line when they relocated to their new facility in November 1970.
Below are two previously unpublished photos of Reed Brothers full service Gulf gas station. Both photos were taken at its original location in Old Rockville at the triangle at Veirs Mill Road and Rockville Pike. (click on photos for larger images)
Reed Brothers Dodge canopied Gulf Gas Station circa 1936. A closer look reveals the price of gasoline as 15 cents. On the right attached to a telephone pole is a sign pointing the way to Olney. In addition to the Gulf signage there is a small, barely visible sign below that promotes, “Clean Rest Rooms”.
Below is a mid-1960’s 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 on the right reads, “We’re Making Deals on Gulf Tires”.
Reed Brothers Dodge Gulf Gas Station circa mid-1960
1920s Double Image Photos by Lewis Reed
If you take a look at the state of photography today, such as the advances of digital cameras and the artful image manipulation by Photoshop, it is easy to forget that back in the 1920s photographers couldn’t just go into a computer program and change their images any way they wanted. They did what they could with the tools they had. Double image exposure was one tool Lewis Reed had in his photography tool belt.
With double exposure technique, you could create certain effects like placing the same person on both sides of a picture simultaneously. Very hard to believe these images were not created using Photoshop, they are just too cool. No digital manipulation here.
Below are some vintage (circa 1920s) double image photographs from Lewis Reed’s collection (click on photos to enlarge):
Lewis Reed standing on both sides of a steamroller
Another double exposure wonderment. Wanna Fight?
Oh No! What on earth are they doing? I don’t know, but this one is epic.
Don’t Shoot! Lewis Reed is standing both front left and front right in this photo
Flashback: Our First Website
In October 1999, Reed Brothers Dodge published their first website. It can be hard to recall what website’s used to look like back in the 90s, as they have changed incrementally over a long period of time, but you can find an archived copy of the Reed Brothers Dodge original website on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Take a walk down memory lane as we journey back in time and take a look at what our very first website used to be.
To give you some perspective, in 1996…
- Google.com did not exist yet
- In January 1996 there were only 100,000 websites, compared to more than 160 million in 2008
- The web browser of choice was Netscape Navigator, followed by Microsoft Internet Explorer as a distant second (Microsoft launched IE 3 in 1996)
- Most people used dial-up Internet connections with mighty speeds ranging from 28.8Kbps to 33.6Kbps
Reed Brothers Dodge site has been crawled 139 times going all the way back to October 4, 1999. (click on images to enlarge)
Reed Brothers First Website “Homepage”
Going back to October 4, 1999 – as shown below. Although some of the pages appear incomplete due to missing images, the essence is there. Note: Captions in blue were captured from hovering over the 6 menu headings on the homepage.
Reed Brothers Dodge first webpage “homepage”
New Car Inventory Search Page
Below was the New Car Inventory Search Page of Reed Brothers website. If for some reason you couldn’t find what you were looking for here, you could scroll to the bottom of the page to the pop-down menu. From there, you could navigate to the other sections of the website, including Incentives, Pre-Owned, Parts/Service, Specials, Maps/Directions, Request a Quote, Credit Application, Employment Opportunities, Contact Us and Homepage.
As you can see below, a few graphic car images are missing from our original site. In general, however, the range and completeness of the archive is remarkable.
Browse through the line-up of current Dodge vehicles. View our new vehicle inventory, check equipment & pricing, even make us an offer.
Inventory Search page
Used Car Inventory Search Page
Search through our entire inventory of used cars and trucks. View photos, prices and included equipment. Our easy-to-use interface will assist you to find the vehicle of your dreams.
Used Car Search Page
Service Department Page
Go here to see our Chrysler 5 Star Repair Facility. We offer early bird and night drop-off, ASE Certified Trained Technicians. Prompt and courteous service representatives.
Service Page
Body Shop Page
Body Shop Page
Parts/Service Information Page
Parts Department Page
Reed Brothers Dodge Credit Application
Reed Brothers Dodge Credit Application
New Car Incentives
Request a Quote Page
Come here to request a quote on your next vehicle. Fill in a few brief questions and one of our courteous Salespersons will assist you.
Request a Quote
Maintenance Menu & Coupon Specials Page
Check out our monthly specials here. Take advantage of the incredible savings we have to offer you. We have specials for all your service needs.
Specials Page
Service Coupon Specials
Four of the six coupons listed above were actually archived!
Coupon Specials
Maintenance Menu
Map/Directions Page
Directions Page
Not Just a Car Guy
The activities of Lewis Reed outside of his main occupation as a car dealer has always been of interest to me. Social activities, pastimes, and hobbies often help define a person and sometimes those activities can be found in later generations.
Lewis Reed was not only passionate about automobiles, he also enjoyed riding motorcycles and photography. With photography for a hobby, one that began even before automobiles were around, he amassed a large library of photographs of many scenic locations from touring on his motorcycle all over the country. All I know is, as I look at these photos and try to make out the details, my grandfather was ready for adventure. (click images to enlarge)
Lewis Reed sitting on his Harley Davidson motorcycle circa 1915 somewhere outside Frederick MD
Lewis Reed taking photograph (from left: Lewis Reed’s motorcycle, Edgar Reed, unknown person, Bernard Hanshew, unknown child, unknown man) in front of Greenawalt Drug Store on Market Street in Frederick, MD circa 1915
Lewis Reed repairing his motorcycle
Lewis Reed (far left)
Lewis Reed (far right)
Lewis Reed patching up Uncle Bernie Hanshew after he fell off motorcycle
1912 – Second from left are Edgar Reed (sitting on motorcycle) and Lewis Reed standing behind him.
Lewis Reed (back) & Edgar
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 
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