Darnestown One-Room Schoolhouse (1898)
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to attend a one-room school, to be in the same classroom as your older brother or younger sister, where all the kids, no matter how old, are in the same class? One-room schoolhouses are all but a memory now. But at the turn of the 20th century, they were where most rural students received their educations. One room schoolhouses were the pioneers of the early education period. At the period’s peak, just under 100 one- and two-room schools existed in Montgomery County.
One of the most amazing photographs in Lewis Reed’s collection is of the one-room schoolhouse where he and his brother, Edgar, went to school. This photograph is the only one known to exist of this school. The schoolhouse, now long gone, was located on Thomas Kelley’s Farm at Pleasant Hill (which today, would be located in the center of the Spring Meadows community). Lewis Reed grew up on a farm in rural Darnestown and for much of his young life had no running water or electricity. His father was an early settler and worked as a Cabinetmaker and Blacksmith. The Reed family farmhouse and blacksmith shop was located in off Route 118 in Darnestown.
Darnestown One-Room Schoolhouse. The chimney was probably to a wood-burning stove that was used to heat the building. Note the outhouse on the left. Photo from the Lewis Reed Collection
This small, one-room schoolhouse was within walking distance of my grandfather’s farmhouse. In those days, walking distance generally meant within a few miles. Lewis Reed attended this school with his brother, Edgar. First through sixth grades were taught by one teacher (Minnie McAtee) to about thirty or more students. Few students went beyond sixth or seventh grade; in fact, Lewis Reed’s education stopped after the sixth grade. He would later be home-schooled by his wife, Ethelene Thomas, who was a teacher in the Maryland public school system.
The age range for students was 6 to 16. The students were separated roughly by level of study in each particular subject, rather than by age as they are now: a child might have studied 3rd grade math while also doing 6th grade reading or history. Gender separation was maintained by seating girls and boys on opposite sides of the room. The larger boys were expected to help bring in the wood or coal and carry out the ashes. Misbehavior begot corporal punishment.
School usually took place between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. The youngest children sat in the front, while the oldest students sat in the back. The teacher usually taught reading, writing, arithmetic, history, and geography. Students memorized and recited their lessons. The teacher’s desk may have been on a raised platform at the front of the room, however, and there would have been a wood-burning stove since there was no other source of heat. The bathroom would have been outside in an outhouse.
Circa 1898 class photo taken at Lewis and Edgar Reed’s one-room schoolhouse (Darnestown School). There were six grades in the school with one teacher. Minnie McAtee, teacher (right rear). Photo from the Lewis Reed Collection.
As for Minnie McAtee, according to The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland) 05 June 1901, Miss McAtee resigned from the Montgomery County school system in 1901.
Born in Darnestown, Miss McAtee attended the Andrew Small Academy in Darnestown, after which she completed correspondence courses to further her education. For eight years, she taught in the one-room schoolhouse at Pleasant Hill, Darnestown.
The undated “Get Well Story” below was posted on the Find A Grave website in her memory. Anybody who took such good care of flowers as she did, most certainly must have been a great school teacher.
At least 34 schoolhouses of this bygone era still stand today in Montgomery County, an astounding total considering how developed Montgomery County is today. The five schoolhouses in Montgomery County restored as museums — Boyds, Brookeville (one-room school), Kingsley, Seneca, and Smithville — are open to the public at various times during the year. Most are open during Heritage Days; check www.heritagemontgomery.org for the schedule.
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: Quebec Bridge (8th Wonder of the World)
The Quebec Bridge (Pont de Québec in French) has been an icon of Canada for more than a century. But did you know that the Quebec Bridge collapsed twice (1907 & 1916) before it was completed, making it the world’s worst bridge construction disaster. Taken approximately 90 years apart, these photos show the Quebec Bridge (8th Wonder of the World) then and now.
Quebec Bridge (THEN): Hailed at the time as the 8th wonder of the world, the Quebec Bridge was the first bridge over the St. Lawrence River in Montreal. Accommodating three highway lanes, one rail line and a pedestrian walkway, it represented a colossal challenge to construct at the time. First conceived in 1887, the bridge collapsed failed twice, at the cost of 88 lives, and took over 30 years to complete. A riveted steel truss structure, the Quebec Bridge is the longest cantilever bridge span in the world. The Quebec Bridge was declared a historic monument in 1987 by the Canadian and American Society of Civil Engineers, and on January 24, 1996, the bridge was declared a National Historic Site of Canada.
Quebec Bridge (8th Wonder of the World). Photo by Lewis Reed, ca. 1930
Quebec Bridge (NOW): The same view almost 90 years later. The bridge remains in use to this day, carrying both road and rail traffic. rails in the middle and roadways on both sides.
Night view of the Quebec Bridge, today. Photo credit: Martin St-Amant – Wikipedia
Source: Wikipedia
Then & Now: Rockville Fair Dirt Track Oval
The black and white photograph of the Rockville Fair auto races below was taken by Lewis Reed in 1923. The photograph was from the first incarnation of the Fair, held by the Montgomery County Agricultural Society (1846-1932) in Rockville and often known simply as the “Rockville Fair.” For this “Then & Now” feature, I have combined Lewis Reed’s original photograph for “then” and matched it with a corresponding contemporary shot for “now” to see how the location has changed throughout almost 95 years.
Rockville Fair Dirt Track Oval (THEN): Like many fairgrounds, the Rockville Fairgrounds included an oval track. Fairground race tracks, typically one-mile or half-mile dirt racing ovals with wide, sweeping curves and grandstands for spectators, were easily adapted for bicycles, harness racing, and the sport of car racing. Harness racing was one of the main attractions, but after the introduction of the automobile in the early 20th century, car races took over. The fairgrounds were just outside Rockville, where Richard Montgomery High School is today.
Crowds at the auto racetrack, Rockville Fair, August 1923. Photo by Lewis Reed
Rockville Fair Dirt Track Oval (NOW): In 1946, after the construction of Richard Montgomery High School, the old oval race track became a football field and stadium.
Richard Montgomery High School football field and stadium today
Featured Photo: Buffalo Zoo Bear Pits, Early 1920s
Buffalo Zoo Bear Pits, Buffalo, New York, ca. early 1920s. Note the car in the photo is mostly open-bodied, with no windows and certainly no heat. Tire chains are on the rear tires. I cannot say with any certainty, but I believe it is Lewis Reed’s car with his wife and baby daughter, Mary Jane, sitting inside all bundled up. Photo by Lewis Reed.
Founded in 1875, the Buffalo Zoo, located at 300 Parkside Ave in Buffalo, New York, is the third oldest zoo in the United States and is the second largest tourist attraction in Western New York; second only to Niagara Falls. The zoo traces its history to the mid-19th century when Jacob E. Bergtold, a Buffalo furrier, presented a pair of deer to the city of Buffalo. Five years after the deer were donated, more animals were added to the collection, and the first permanent building was erected, signifying the establishment of the Buffalo Zoological Gardens in 1875.
From this simple gift would grow the earliest origins of the Zoo, still operating on the same spot as that original 1871 Deer Paddock. A pair of bison and eight elk were added to the animal collection in 1895, and a zoo curator was hired the same year. Two years later, the bear pits, designed to look like Roman ruins, were built as the zoo we now know was beginning to take shape.
Source: Wikipedia
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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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