Long before the name Reed Brothers Dodge became synonymous with automobiles in Montgomery County, the triangular piece of land at the intersection of Rockville Pike and Veirs Mill Road was already emerging as an important crossroads in Rockville’s transportation history.

Today, thousands of vehicles pass through what locals know as the “Mixing Bowl,” but more than a century ago this busy intersection was a rural gateway into town. Dirt roads, trolley tracks, horse-drawn wagons, and a handful of early automobiles shared the landscape. It was here that the story of Reed Brothers Dodge would begin.

The August 1908 Sanborn map below shows the junction of Rockville & Georgetown Turnpike and Washington Road before the Rockville Garage existed. (The future site would be the empty “point” of the triangle formed by the intersecting roads). The map reveals three two-story dwellings further back in the triangle. Letters A, B, and C in front of the dwellings are arbitrary identifications supplied by the Sanborn Map Company, as house numbers were not commonly assigned until later in the century. The fairgrounds of the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair Association (a.k.a. “Rockville Fair”) was located directly across the Rockville & Georgetown Turnpike. 

This August 1908 Rockville Sanborn Map (zoomed in) shows the junction of Rockville & Georgetown Turnpike and Washington Road before the Rockville Garage existed.

The arrival of the automobile would soon change everything.

Origins of the Rockville Garage from The Montgomery County Sentinel. May 20, 1914:

Mr. Alva Ricketts has purchased the vacant lot opposite the fair grounds, in this town, from Mr. Benjamin Haney and will in the course of a few days erect upon it a garage, in which will be kept his autos for the accommodation of the traveling public.

By 1914, local businessman Alva Ricketts recognized the growing demand for automobile sales and repair services and constructed a small garage at this important junction near the Montgomery County Fairgrounds. The new business became known as Rockville Garage and initially operated as an agency for Overland automobiles. Leonidas “Lee” Ricketts and sons (Raymond, Emory, and Alva) ran the local Overland Agency at the Veirs Mill Road/Rockville Pike location from 1914-1915. The Overland Agency was short-lived: by July of 1915, Lewis Reed and brothers Robert L. and Griffith Warfield established Rockville Garage after acquiring the building from the Ricketts family. An employee of Rockville Garage in 1915, Lewis Reed purchased a one-third interest from the Warfield brothers in January 1916. Three years later, the Warfield’s conveyed the balance of the property and Lewis became the sole owner. In August of 1919, Lewis Reed’s brother Edgar joined the business, and the name of the company was changed to Reed Brothers Dodge.

Original Rockville Garage building at the intersection of Veirs Mill Rd and Rockville Pike, 1916.

Lewis Reed Enters the Picture

In 1915, 25-year-old Lewis Reed joined Robert L. and Griffith Warfield in acquiring Rockville Garage from Lee Ricketts and Sons. Reed had been working as a machinist and saw opportunity in the rapidly expanding automobile industry. The partnership continued under the Rockville Garage name, but the seeds of a much larger enterprise had been planted.

Only three years later, Lewis Reed purchased the Warfields’ interest in the business. Shortly afterward, the operation became known as Reed Brothers Dodge following the arrival of his brother, Edgar Reed. What began as a modest garage at a rural crossroads would grow into one of the oldest continuously operated Dodge dealerships in the United States.

The original owners of Rockville Garage. L-R: Roy Warfield, Lewis Reed, Griffith Warfield, 1916.

The Crossroads That Shaped A Century

Looking at historic photographs taken by Lewis Reed, it is difficult to imagine that the bustling intersection of today was once little more than a dirt road with a single gasoline pump standing in front of a small garage. Yet that humble location provided the foundation for nearly a century of automotive history.

Then & Now Comparison From Quiet Crossroads to “Mixing Bowl”. The once‑quiet junction has evolved into what locals now refer to as “the mixing bowl,” a complex web of roads, traffic signals, and near‑constant traffic.​

Before there was Reed Brothers Dodge, there was Rockville Garage. And before there was Rockville Garage, there was simply a vacant lot at a crossroads where a handful of visionaries saw the future arriving on four wheels.

The story of Reed Brothers Dodge did not begin with a dealership. It began with a garage, a strategic location, and a belief that the automobile was about to change everything.