New Car Showroom, c. 1920s
1920 Dodge Showroom
This new car showroom at Reed Brothers Dodge is filled with late 1920s Dodge Brothers new car models. The high ceilings and mezzanine floor gives an air of elegance to the showroom and the expanse of windows on the front extends the full width of the building. The showroom faced the triangle at Veirs Mill Road and Rockville Pike (now known as Veterans Park) which gave the dealership maximum visibility to the largest volume of cross traffic. Behind the large plate glass windows and an awning above was the product — the new car. (click image to enlarge)
In the background under the column arch is the Bookkeeper’s desk, who at the time was Arthur Watkins. The upper floor mezzanine housed the dealership’s Parts Department and storage area. Leo (Pat) Murray started in 1925 and was the Parts Department Manager. Pat worked at Reed Brothers for more than 21 years. To the right of the stairs was Evelyn Beane’s desk, Reed Brothers’ administrative secretary.
To the left of the stairs is the Gulf Gasoline service counter displaying various supplies. 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 at the triangle at Veirs Mill Road and Rockville Pike. 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.
The showroom led to the Service Department at the rear of the building which was how new cars were moved in and out of the showroom. There were 2-3 additional offices in the back of the showroom. One belonged to Edgar Reed (Lewis’ brother) who was generally in charge of the “front end” of the business; new car and truck sales. The other office belonged to Lewis Reed, who was never known to spend a lot of time in his office sitting behind a desk. He could always be found in the “back end” of the business; Service, Parts and Body Shop.
There were no salesman’s desks in the showroom until after World War II. 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 of Poolesville, Rockville, Barnesville and Spencerville demonstrating cars to potential customers. 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. Three of the four salesmen at the time were Francis O. Day, Raleigh S. Chinn and Benjamin J. Thompson. Benjamin Thompson of Colesville joined Reed Brothers in 1917 as Salesman and stayed for 30+ years. Raleigh S. Chinn of Rockville started as Salesman with Reed Brothers in 1920.
Happy 91st Birthday, Mom!
Today is a very special post in honor of my mother, Mary Jane (Reed) Gartner – 91 years young today! My mom is my rock, my inspiration and role model. She is a remarkable woman of strength and courage. She is brilliant, vibrant, full of heart and truly a treasure in my life.
The amazing thing is, she had a heart attack on September 9, 2013 and one week later underwent triple bypass surgery. Now just two weeks and one day later, she is in rehab and on the road to recovery. My mom has always been an active person and has the heart and mind of someone 20 years younger. When people meet her they can’t believe she’s 91 years old. She’s an avid Bridge player, a Facebook friend, a Skyper, a Texter and can navigate an iPhone and Windows 8! I could not possibly be more proud of her.
If I could give you a gift mom, I would give you the ability to see yourself as others see you, then you could really see how very special you are. Your courage in the face of adversity, and your inner strength is truly a blessing. I hope that when I’m 91, I’m half as vital, dynamic, healthy, and loving as you are! I wish you many more years of health and happiness.
Happy Birthday Wishes from your eldest! I love you!!!
Wright Brothers’ Historic Flying Demonstration at Fort Myers Through the Lens of Lewis Reed
This special post doesn’t have anything to do with Reed Brothers Dodge, but it does have a lot to do with it’s founder, Lewis Reed.
On this day in September 17,1908, the first military airplane in the world, built by the Wright brothers for the Army Signal Corps, made its first flight at Fort Myer, Virginia. Less than a thousand people witnessed the first flight at Fort Myer, because the general public was still doubtful that powered flight had been achieved. But Lewis Reed was there… and to commemorate that milestone, I have posted five original snippets of history that Lewis Reed captured through the lens of his camera that day.
Wright Brothers airplane in its hangar at Fort Myer, Virginia. Photo by Lewis Reed
Curtiss Model D with tricycle undercarriage. Photo by Lewis Reed
Curtiss Model D. Photo by Lewis Reed
Wright Model B with skids. Photo by Lewis Reed
Another early aircraft from 1909 was the Bleriot XI monoplane. Photo by Lewis Reed
Fisk Tires
Reed Brothers was founded and franchised as a Dodge dealership in 1915; only one year after the first Dodge automobile was made. Initially, Reed Brothers sold Oldsmobile and Hudson, along with Dodge. Reed Brothers was a successful company, combining car sales, auto accessories and repair service. They also sold Fisk Tires which were made in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts.
After seeing the Fisk Tire signs in the photos below, I was curious to learn more about the company and the tires that they made. The history of the Fisk Tire Company is relatively obscure, but as far as is known, Noyes W. Fisk purchased a failing rubber manufacturing company in 1898. Fisk continued the company under his own name and branched out to sell automobile tires. By 1904, most of the country’s major car manufacturers were buying Fisk tires. The tire business, along with many other businesses, fell upon hard times during the great depression. Despite all the country’s hardships, Fisk survived and introduced its new Safti-Flight tire in 1930, and it proved to be an impressive success. (click images to enlarge)
This photo was taken by Lewis Reed across from Reed Brothers Dodge, circa 1915. Old St Mary’s Church is in the background.
Original 1915 Rockville Garage located at the intersection of Veirs Mill Road and Rockville Pike. The small sign on the right side of the Garage advertises Gasoline, Fisk Tires and Supplies.
Below is an ad I found in the September 18, 1915 edition of Automobile Topics that gives you an idea of the cost of tires at the time, which was considerable.
Source: Chicopee (Google eBook)
The Home Is Gone But Not The Memories
301 North Frederick Ave
In 1926 Lewis Reed, the founder of Reed Brothers Dodge, and his wife Ethlene built a craftsman-style house in Gaithersburg Maryland, at what is today 301 North Frederick Avenue. This was my grandparents home. This was the home where my mother (Mary Jane Reed Gartner) was born and raised. Some of my earliest memories are visits to this home as I spent a lot of time there during my childhood.
It’s weird, the things you remember from childhood. Who knows why some things stick in your memory and others quickly fade away. Often there seems to be no rhyme nor reason behind it. While writing a page on this blog about the Reed Family Home, I also started making some notes about some of the arbitrary things I could remember about them and their home. And eventually some of that turned into this blog post.
They lived just across the Frederick Avenue bridge over the railroad tracks from where I grew up, so my grandparents played an integral role in the creation of my early childhood memories. This special post will highlight some of my personal memories of my grandparents home and hopefully give readers a small glimpse of our family history.
Corner of North Frederick Ave & Maryland Ave
Their home had a big front porch, a back terrace, fish pond, chicken yard, and a beautiful back yard surrounded with flowers. In the basement there was a coal-fired, straight-out-of-a-scary-movie furnace, a laundry room, a finished area where my grandfather would show movies on his 16mm reel to reel film projector, and lots of space for me to play paddle ball (hitting a rubber ball with a wooden paddle that was attached to the ceiling with a string).
Some of my most cherished childhood memories are of making homemade ice cream with my grandfather. We used to make it with a “crank it yourself” ice cream maker. It always seemed to take forever. As a child, I wanted the ice cream immediately. Everyone who wanted to have a serving of ice cream when it was finished was expected to take a turn at turning the handle. When I was little, I would always go first because when the ice cream began to harden the churn became harder and harder to turn. My grandfather, or my mom or dad, would always have to take over at the very end. Sweet memories of a simpler time.
Fishpond
The fish pond was a magical place for a young grade-schooler. As a child, I spent countless hours feeding the goldfish bread crumbs and sailing homemade sailboats that my grandfather built for me out of scraps of wood. I remember I used to help him clean the pond. We’d use a net (or sometimes our hands) to capture the fish and store them in a large metal tub filled with water. When I think now of all the hours my grandfather spent cleaning the muck out of the bottom of the fish pond, I can’t help but cringe. But he never, ever complained, so in the end I guess we can say we both had a good time.
Backyard
There was an alley driveway behind the garage between the properties that we used to call “chicken alley” – mostly because all the neighborhood homes back then had chickens. My grandparents had a chicken yard, too. It was attached to the garage. The nuggets of information I collected from my mom suggests they raised the chickens for eggs and eating. In those days if you wanted a chicken you didn’t go to the grocery store to get it, you went to the backyard chicken coop.
Fortunately, by the time I came along the chicken house had been cleaned out and was turned into a storage shed for my grandfather’s tools. The chicken house is visible at the top right of the aerial photo below. (click image to enlarge)
Fish Pond Aerial View
I have plenty of fragmentary memories from my pre-school years. As a toddler of a little over one year old, I remember I fell and broke my ankle running along the walkway on the side of my grandparents house.
When I was about 8 or 9, I remember watching someone walk down the sidewalk in front of their house with a cardboard box over their head. You’ve heard the old saying, “Monkey see, monkey do”. Well, I went and got my own box. As I was walking up the front porch steps with the stupid box over my head I tripped and fell. The scar on my chin is still visible today. But I remember the fall at their house clearly.
Walkway on side of my grandparents house where I tripped and broke my ankle
For all of that, the memories of my grandparents’ house are ones I will always treasure. My childhood just wouldn’t have been the same without them. Good times.
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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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