Third Annual Goodyear Dealers Zeppelin Race July-August 1931
MARGARET BOURKE-WHITE, 1931 REED BROTHERS THIRD ANNUAL GOODYEAR DEALERS ZEPPELIN RACE WINNER
In 1931, the Goodyear Zeppelin Company produced a series of framed prints as rewards for Goodyear dealers as prizes for high sales. Sales was based on a two months quota, and participated in by thousands of dealers all over the country. The print shows the maiden launch of the USS Akron leaving the Goodyear Zeppelin air dock at Akron, Ohio. The engraved plaque at the bottom center of the frame reads, “Winner – Reed Brothers, Third Annual Goodyear Dealers Zeppelin Race. July – August 1931.” This frame is made of duralumin used in the girder construction of the United States Airship “AKRON” built by the Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation”. The print is signed in the lower right-hand corner by the famed 20th century photographer, Margaret Bourke-White. During the early years of the Depression, Goodyear was one of Bourke-White’s most important clients. She made this image of the airship Akron when it was removed from its hangar for the first time.
Built in 1929, the almost unbelievably huge Goodyear air dock in Akron, Ohio, was created as a space where blimps, airships, and dirigibles could be constructed. Evidently building such a massive space created problems, such as indoor rain, and putting the whole thing on rollers so that it could expand and contract with the seasons.
Inscription Plaque
Photo is signed in the lower right corner by famed 20th century photographer, Margaret Bourke White
The USS Akron, first of a class of two 6,500,000 cubic foot rigid airships, was built at Akron, Ohio. Commissioned in late October 1931, she spent virtually all of her short career on technical and operational development tasks, exploring the potential of the rigid airship as an Naval weapons system. During the remainder of 1931 and the early part of 1932, the Akron made flights around the eastern United States and over the western Atlantic, including one trial of her capabilities as a scouting unit of the fleet. While beginning a trip to the New England area, Akron encountered a violent storm over the New Jersey coast and, shortly after midnight on 4 April 1933, crashed tail-first into the sea. Only three of the seventy-six men on board survived this tragic accident. During the search for other possible survivors, the Navy non-rigid airship J-3 also crashed, killing two more men.
Note: Margaret Bourke-White (1904 1971) is best known as the first foreign correspondent to be permitted to take photographs of Soviet industry, the first female war correspondent, and the first female correspondent permitted to work in war zones.
40th Anniversary with Goodyear
Lewis Reed was recognized by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. for reaching his 40th year as a Goodyear dealer. Reed Brothers Dodge began selling Goodyear tires in the 1920s. Below is a letter from Russell DeYoung thanking Lewis Reed for his 40 years “in business together”.
Reed Brothers Third Annual Goodyear Dealers Zeppelin Race Winner July-August 1931
MARGARET BOURKE-WHITE, 1931 REED BROTHERS THIRD ANNUAL GOODYEAR DEALERS ZEPPELIN RACE WINNER
In 1931, the Goodyear Zeppelin Company produced a series of framed prints as rewards for Goodyear dealers as prizes for high sales. Sales was based on a two months quota, and participated in by thousands of dealers all over the country. The print shows the maiden launch of the USS Akron leaving the Goodyear Zeppelin air dock at Akron, Ohio. The engraved plaque at the bottom center of the frame reads, “Winner – Reed Brothers, Third Annual Goodyear Dealers Zeppelin Race. July – August 1931.” This frame is made of duralumin used in the girder construction of the United States Airship “AKRON” built by the Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation”. The print is signed in the lower right-hand corner by the famed 20th century photographer, Margaret Bourke-White. During the early years of the Depression, Goodyear was one of Bourke-White’s most important clients. She made this image of the airship Akron when it was removed from its hangar for the first time.
Built in 1929, the almost unbelievably huge Goodyear air dock in Akron, Ohio, was created as a space where blimps, airships, and dirigibles could be constructed. Evidently building such a massive space created problems, such as indoor rain, and putting the whole thing on rollers so that it could expand and contract with the seasons.
Inscription Plaque
Photo is signed in the lower right corner by famed 20th century photographer, Margaret Bourke White
The USS Akron, first of a class of two 6,500,000 cubic foot rigid airships, was built at Akron, Ohio. Commissioned in late October 1931, she spent virtually all of her short career on technical and operational development tasks, exploring the potential of the rigid airship as an Naval weapons system. During the remainder of 1931 and the early part of 1932, the Akron made flights around the eastern United States and over the western Atlantic, including one trial of her capabilities as a scouting unit of the fleet. While beginning a trip to the New England area, Akron encountered a violent storm over the New Jersey coast and, shortly after midnight on 4 April 1933, crashed tail-first into the sea. Only three of the seventy-six men on board survived this tragic accident. During the search for other possible survivors, the Navy non-rigid airship J-3 also crashed, killing two more men.
Note: Margaret Bourke-White (1904 1971) is best known as the first foreign correspondent to be permitted to take photographs of Soviet industry, the first female war correspondent, and the first female correspondent permitted to work in war zones.
40th Anniversary with Goodyear
Lewis Reed was recognized by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. for reaching his 40th year as a Goodyear dealer. Reed Brothers Dodge began selling Goodyear tires in the 1920s. Below is a letter from Russell DeYoung thanking Lewis Reed for his 40 years “in business together”.
Rockville Academy Basketball Team 1915-1916
Before opening his Dodge dealership in 1915, Lewis Reed was a well-known amateur photographer in Montgomery County. He would occasionally get phone calls local high schools asking him to take pictures of their athletic teams and graduating classes.
This photo taken by Lewis Reed depicts the Rockville Academy Basketball Team of 1915-1916. Finding photos and information of basketball teams before the 1920s is a difficult task. The only information on this team that I could find was in the May 1981 edition of “The Montgomery County Story” and the news clipping just below it from the Washington Times. From the newsletter:
In 1915, Rockville High School organized an athletic association. They planned teams in baseball, football, and basketball. They quickly lost their first game of basketball to Rockville Academy, 29 to 26.
Rockville Academy Basketball Team 1915-1916. Photo Lewis Reed
Back: Roy Hilton, Lester Witherow, Grubb, Hamilton, Edmonds
Middle: Lawrence Higgins, Joe Dawson, Brownell (Buck) Riggs, J. Vinson Peter, John McDonald
Front: John Dawson
The Washington Times January 24, 1915
The Montgomery County Historical Society has identified several people in the photograph. If anyone can help put a name to a face, please leave a comment.
Source: The Montgomery County Story
Then & Now: Hagerstown Public Square
This post is a continuation of a series of “Then & Now” images that will show photographs of buildings, street scenes, and other historical locales from Lewis Reed’s Photo Collection alongside photographs of how they appear today.
Hagerstown Public Square (THEN): Hagerstown Public Square looking north on Potomac Street, circa 1913. D. Ramacciotti’s fruit and candy store dominated the left side of the square. Trolleys roll down the middle of the street and a piano store is on the right. Winding the giant clock in the background (still there today) was done by a line from the tower attached to a horse on the ground that pulled the clock’s weights up through the tower.
Hagerstown Public Square, 1913. Photo by Lewis Reed
Hagerstown Public Square (NOW): Traffic heads south on Potomac Street on the square in downtown Hagerstown 105 years later.
Hagerstown’s Public Square, looking north on Potomac Street, as it is today.
Then & Now: Howard House Hotel, Ellicott City
This post is a continuation of a series of “Then & Now” images that will show photographs of buildings, street scenes, and other historical locales from Lewis Reed’s Photo Collection alongside photographs of how they appear today.
Howard House Hotel (THEN): The Howard House Hotel, built in 1840, contained a bar and dining room in addition to 14 bedrooms. The hotel featured fine German cooking and was the first place in town to offer ice cream — which was made on Wednesdays only and was a real draw. The hotel and restaurant was a popular stop for mid-19th-century travelers headed west on the National Road, and a day-trip destination for urban dwellers. In the 1940s, the decorative wrought iron on its second-floor porch was sold for scrap metal for the war effort.
The trolley tracks on main street were originally part of the Catonsville and Ellicott City Electric Railway Company trolley line that shuttled passengers between Ellicott City and Baltimore from the late 1890s to the mid-1950s.
Howard House Hotel Ellicott City, Maryland, circa 1914. Note the signs over the entrance read, “ICE CREAM” below it “OYSTERS” Photo by Lewis Reed
Howard House Hotel (NOW): The same view 105 years later, restored to its original grandeur as 10 “luxury” rental apartments which includes panel doors, moldings and much of the original woodwork.
Howard House Apartments 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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