Tag Archive | Offutt’s General Store
March 23, 2018  

Early Commercial Trucks on the Job in Rockville

Rockville Fair

1918 – Lewis Reed in drivers seat of Rockville Garage Dodge Brothers Service Truck. Note the Dodge Brothers six-point emblem on the hood and “Dodge Brothers Service” displayed on the side panel.

After the introduction of mass-produced automobiles, people started to modify their vehicles for enhanced utility. These people stripped off the rear bodywork and mounted open-topped boxes that resembled the first step towards the modern pickup truck. The photos on this post gives a wide variety of vehicles outfitted with the equipment necessary for various trades… Dealership Service Truck, Delivery Truck, and Firetruck.

Horace and John Dodge reluctantly agreed to develop a commercial vehicle in 1917 after their sales associates lobbied for a work truck that could be sold to small businesses that made deliveries of fruit, beer, and other goods. The result was a vehicle based on the first Dodge passenger car. The vehicle eventually became the screen-side Dodge business truck, with a thousand-pound payload, selling for $885.

The photo below of the original Offutt’s General Store shows a 1919 Dodge Screenside delivery truck purchased from Reed Brothers Dodge parked in front. Notice the screens on the side with roll up canvas covers. Commercial users of these units preferred Dodges because they had an all steel body.

Offutt’s General Store, with a 1919 Dodge delivery truck purchased from Reed Brothers Dodge parked in front.

Offutt’s General Store, with a 1919 Dodge Screenside delivery truck purchased from Reed Brothers Dodge parked in front. The store later became Hank Dietle’s Tavern on Rockville Pike which was recently destroyed by fire. Photo courtesy of Mary Offutt Stubbs, Edward Offutt’s daughter

In 1919, the Graham Brothers produced the “Truck-Builder” which was a basic platform from which a customer could spec a truck according to their needs. The Truck Builder was essentially a truck conversion that began with a passenger car. The Truck Builder worked this way: The new-car dealer would sell a new car to a customer, then suggest to the buyer that his old car could be converted into a truck.

dodge truck builder

Original Dodge Truck Build Order

The Dodge Truck Building Order listed the components and equipment that go into an individual truck; engine, transmission, axles, ratios, tires, special equipment, and others. A copy of the order is affixed to the cab or body, engine, and frame during the first steps in the assembly process and accompanies it until the truck is completely assembled.

In 1921, Dodge Brothers began to market Graham Brothers medium-duty trucks through its dealerships; in turn, every Graham vehicle utilized a Dodge engine. This partnership provided Dodge dealers with a full line of trucks to sell in addition to the highly regarded Dodge passenger cars, and the resulting sales increases prompted Dodge to buy the Graham Brothers Company.

Graham Brothers Trucks

In the 1920s Reed Brothers sold Dodge Brothers Motor Cars and Graham Brothers Trucks

1922 was the birth of the Kensington (Maryland) Volunteer Fire Department. The following quote was extracted from the KVFD History page.

With little money, the new company went about purchasing apparatus. A Dodge truck was purchased from Reed Brothers in Rockville. A fire body was then put on the truck by Jacobs Brothers in Gaithersburg. To raise money, the volunteers held carnivals. The Fire Department incorporated in 1925, and two years later moved into a permanent home in the basement of the National Guard Armory.

Lewis Reed later became a charter member and President (Feb.1933 – Feb 1937) of the Gaithersburg – Washington Grove Volunteer Fire Department.

Kensington VFD c. 1922

This photo was on the Kensington VFD web page. The trucks in front appear to be c. 1920s.

The Dodge trucks would carry the Graham Brothers nameplate until 1928 with a few of the designs lasting as long as the 1930s.

June 4, 2017  

Offutt’s General Store, with a 1919 Dodge Truck Purchased from Reed Brothers Dodge Parked in Front

Offutt's General Store 1919

Offutt’s General Store, with a 1919 Dodge delivery truck purchased from Reed Brothers Dodge parked in front. Photo courtesy of Mary Offutt Stubbs, Edward Offutt’s daughter

Offutt’s General Store and filling station in the building that is now Hank Dietle’s Tavern on Rockville Pike.  Edward Offutt, a landowner, first constructed the building as a general store in 1916 selling groceries, animal feed, penny candy, food and drinks, according to Montgomery County Historical Society records.

The building was constructed in 1916, and first housed a general store, with two gas pumps outside. It was owned and operated by Edward Offutt; he and his family lived in a house next door. The actual bar in the tavern predates the building. In the 1940s, a fire destroyed the original bar. So, the owner at the time — prior to Hank Dietle — traveled to Baltimore to buy a “new” bar. He found one about 100 years old and it was sawed down to fit where it sits today. Tony Huniak, who began going to the tavern in the 1970s, purchased Dietle’s in the 1990s to save the neighborhood bar from closing.

The photo of the original Offutt’s General Store shows a 1919 Dodge Screenside delivery truck purchased from Reed Brothers Dodge parked in front. Notice the screens on the side with roll up canvas covers. Commercial users of these units preferred Dodges because they had an all steel body. Four large visible pumps dispensing That Good Gulf Gasoline can be seen in front. Its Class D beer and wine license, numbered 001, was the first issued in Montgomery County Maryland after the end of Prohibition.

1919 Dodge Business Car

Montgomery County Sentinel, March 14, 1919

Dodge Brothers did not have a truck line, though Dodge would later be known for their trucks. Horace and John Dodge reluctantly agreed to develop a commercial vehicle in 1917 after their sales associates lobbied for a work truck that could be sold to small businesses that made deliveries of fruit, beer, and other goods. The result was a vehicle based on the first Dodge passenger car. The vehicle eventually became the screen-side Dodge business truck, with a thousand-pound payload, selling for $885.

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