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Below are two previously unpublished photos of Reed Brothers full service Gulf gas station.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
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
Final Chapter in Reed Brothers Dodge History
When Lewis Reed opened his car dealership in 1915, he never knew he was starting a family tradition that would be carried out for 97 years and three generations.
After almost a century of serving Rockville – and two and a half years after Chrysler terminated the Reed Brothers Dodge franchise – the dealership property went to settlement on August 30, 2012. The dealership site was sold to a developer whose future plans include constructing a $90M project to include a 6-story residential building with 417 multi-family units and a 517 space parking structure.
Lewis Reed’s legacy, however, lives on in the business ventures that his family grew and continues to grow. In Lewis Reed’s spirit of entrepreneurship, the family has formed RBI Properties, LLC, the private holding company of Reed Brothers, Inc – and the legacy continues.
How Dodge Street in Rockville Got Its Name
How Dodge Street In Rockville Got Its Name
In honor of Rockville automobile pioneer, Lewis Reed, the State of Maryland named the connector street behind the dealership’s original location, “Dodge Street,” commemorating Reed Brothers’ presence from 1915-1970.
The connector street was so short that Lewis Reed always joked, if the state wanted to name a street after him, the street needed to be longer. Hence the street was named, “Dodge Street”. Maryland Route 660 is the unsigned designation for Dodge Street, which runs 0.05 mi from Rockville Pike (MD 355) north to Veirs Mill Road (MD 28) in Rockville. Dodge Street is one of the shortest highways in the state of Maryland.
Dodge Street Google capture 2017
By tracking Reed Brothers Dodge on successive Sanborn maps—1915, 1924, and 1949—I have confirmed that sometime between 1924 and 1949, CADIZ ALLEY became Dodge Street. CADIZ ALLEY is an arbitrary designation supplied by the Sanborn Map Company in the absence of a suitable official name. The street was named “Dodge Street” by the State of Maryland sometime following the dealership’s 1941 expansion.
Nov 1915 Rockville Maryland Sanborn Map, Sheet 5 (zoomed in)
When the state of Maryland widened the roads in 1970, Reed Brothers Dodge relocated from its original location at the triangle at Veirs Mill Road and Rockville Pike to a new complex at 15955 Frederick Road in Rockville. The dealership’s original site is now the Veterans Park.
2019 Google Map view showing the original location of Reed Brothers Dodge triangle and Dodge Street
Sources:
Wikipedia, List of state highways in Maryland shorter than one mile
MDRoads Routes 660-679 Maryland Highways of the Automobile Era
A Tale of Two Employees
Francis O. Day, Salesman (I Lost) paying off a local election bet to Guy Murray, Shop Foreman (I Won) in downtown Rockville circa 1940
One of the things I enjoy doing is looking through all of the old photographs in my grandfather’s albums and trying to figure out who and what they are. Some of the photos are more than 100 years old! Anyway, I can easily identify most of the Reed family, but who in the world are some of these other people? It’s like some reverse version of “Where’s Waldo”.
This time it was my mom (Lewis Reed’s daughter) who wanted to show me this old photo and tell me the story behind it. So here it is…
The story of two Reed Brothers employees (Francis O. Day, Salesman and Guy Murray, Shop Foreman) who made a bet on who would win a local election. It’s pretty obvious that Guy Murray won the bet, because he is being pulled by Francis Day through downtown Rockville in a horse cart. I thought only horses could pull those things, but I see grown men can, too!
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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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