1976 Showroom & Car Lot
A 1976 Dodge Charger displayed on showroom floor
I found these two gems while looking through some of my old photo albums. The top photo shows what appears to be a 1976 Dodge Charger displayed on the showroom floor at Reed Brothers. Usually, the flashiest of the new models, spit-shined to perfection, would be displayed inside the showroom. Banners touting the new models were also strung up in the showroom.
In the second photo, nothing screams 1970s like the line of beige and baby blue cars all lined up in rows on the side lot. Across the road is the big barn that said, “MILK FOR THOMPSON’S DAIRY” on the field that is now the new urban development known as King Farm. I remember Lawson King’s dairy cows. Lots of them! They used to graze in the fields just a few feet from the roadway right across the road. At its peak, King Farm was the largest milk producer in the area and had been in agricultural use for nearly 75 years before it was approved for development in 1996.
Cars lined up awaiting prospective buyers
Original Employees
This circa 1920s image shows some of the original sales and service staff of Lewis Reed’s Rockville Garage. Note that in the photo some of the men are wearing Gulf Gasoline attendant uniforms. The photo was taken in front of the vehicle entrance that led to the service department at the original Rockville Garage. (click on image to enlarge)
Rockville Garage Sales & Service Staff circa 1920s. Back Row, standing left to right: name unknown, Charles Case Merry, Lester Wilson, Leonard Beall, John William Norris, name unknown, Leo C. Murray. Second Row: name unknown, name unknown, Otis Beall (Leonard’s brother), Philip Reed, Clyde Souders, Arthur Souders. Front row: middle. Walter (Bud) Beall. Lewis Reed’s brother, Philip, came to work for Reed Brothers as a mechanic in 1916. The men dressed in uniforms were Gulf gas station attendants. The identities of the other people in the photo are unknown.
Other Original Employees
Raleigh S. Chinn, Rockville, started as Salesman with Reed Brothers in 1920
Evelyn Beane, Administrative Secretary
Paul F. Wire, Bookkeeper
W. Lester Wilson, Rockville, started in 1918 as Shop Foreman and stayed for 28 years
Alfred Fraley, Redland, started in 1917 as a mechanic and stayed for more than 30+ years
Benjamin J. Thompson, Colesville, started in 1917 as Salesman and stayed for 30+ years
Phillip Reed (a brother), started in 1916 as a mechanic. Phillip was a part of the first shop force and stayed with the company until 1944
Grafton Reed (a brother), worked as a mechanic in 1921
Leo (Pat) Murray started in 1925 and was the Parts Department Manager. Pat worked at Reed Brothers for more than 21 years
Richard C. Burdette, Rockville, mechanic
John Burdette, Gaithersburg, Gas Station Attendant
Marvin Riggs Shultz Sr, Gulf Gas Station Manager, started in 1941. In 1965, he became a new car salesman. He stayed with Reed Brothers for 43 years and holds the distinction of being the company’s longest-tenured employee.
Mary Ann (Slater) Beall, Rockville, Bookkeeper
Guy Merry
Aubrey Souders
Seasons Greetings and Happy Holidays!
I would like to take this time to wish you a very Happy Holiday season. As another year winds down, I wish you all a holiday filled with peace and happiness and a prosperous New Year.
All the very best for a wonderful 2014,
from,
The special video I have posted below is without a doubt one of The United States Air Force Band’s finest accomplishments. If you have not seen this, you are in for a real treat. If you have seen it, watch and listen to it again. You won’t be disappointed I assure you. It was my honor and joy to be a part of this organization for 30 years. I am so proud of their continued accomplishments and so very grateful to have been among their ranks.
The United States Air Force Band has officially gone viral with its first-ever flash mob broadcast from the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. – watch and be joyous!
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
Creed of A Dodge Brothers Salesman
The man responsible for much of the early Dodge Brothers advertising was George Harrison Phelps. Among other things, George Phelps wrote “The Creed of A Dodge Brothers Salesman” which embodied the Dodge Brothers philosophy in manufacturing and selling cars:
from Newspaperarchive.com – Spirit Lake Beacon Thursday, May 13, 1915
Dodge Brothers advertising was renowned for its simplicity. Sales brochures in 1914-15 and 1916 used the slogan, “It Speaks for Itself.”
Advertisements in 1916 emphasized the growing acceptance of Dodge Brothers care by the public. The campaign began with “A Year’s Growth of Good Will”, published on January 1, 1916.
Source: “The Dodge Brothers”, The Men, The Motor Cars, and The Legacy
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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