Historic Montrose School, Rockville (1909)
Montrose School, Photo by Lewis Reed, ca. 1909
Completed in 1909, Montrose School was designed as a two room schoolhouse and offered classes for first to seventh grade. Other modern amenities included kerosene hurricane lamps affixed to the walls and pot-bellied coal burning stoves in each classroom; an outside hand pump provided well water, and outdoor boys’ and girls’ rest rooms. Increased modernization, including electricity and indoor plumbing were added throughout the early to middle decades of the 20th century. One hundred students enrolled.
Below, is a photo of teacher and students taken by Lewis Reed circa 1909.
Montrose School Students, Photo by Lewis Reed, ca. 1909
Reed Brothers Original Landmark Location
Reed Brothers Dodge property at the triangle after demolition, ca. late 1960s
The triangle-shaped property shown in the above photo was the longtime home of the Reed Brothers Dodge dealership before the site was acquired by the State of Maryland to widen the roads in 1970. At the time of Lewis Reed’s death in 1967, he was in negotiations with the State Roads Commission on the Commission’s proposal to take over a portion of his business property for construction of an interchange at Rockville Pike, Hungerford Drive and Veirs Mill Road.
After 55 years at the original location at the triangle at Veirs Mill Road and Rockville Pike, Lee Gartner purchased 4.37 acres of land from Eugene Casey and relocated Reed Brothers Dodge to a new complex on Route 355 at the Shady Grove Metro.
The state of Maryland named the connector street behind the original location, “Dodge Street,” commemorating Reed Brothers’ presence from 1914-1970.
The dealership’s location today is now known as Veterans Park. In the 1970s the site was known as the Francis Scott Key Memorial Park, and later in 1988, it was permanently re-dedicated as Veterans Park.
Montgomery County Fairgrounds in the Snow, ca. 1910
Montgomery County Fairgrounds. Photo by Lewis Reed, ca. 1910
Montgomery County Fairgrounds Chicken House. Photo by Lewis Reed, ca. 1910
These snowy images of the Montgomery County Fair were taken by Lewis Reed, ca. 1910. From 1846-1932, the Montgomery County Fair took place in Rockville with competitions, entertainment, and food that attracted people from Montgomery County and Washington, DC.
Halpine / Lenovitz Store at 1600 Rockville Pike, 1910
Halpine / Lenovitz General Store at Rockville Pike and Halpine Road, 1910. Photo taken by Lewis Reed.
The Halpine Store, also known as the Lenovitz General Store, was built on Rockville Pike in 1898, taking advantage of the prime location on the trolley and railroad lines and the Pike. The store sold food, gasoline and other items to locals and Pike travelers. There is a young African American man standing in front of the store. Note the telephone or telegraph poles, and the trolley tracks paralleling the road. The nearby Halpine railroad station also brought customers to the area, and the store became the social/community gathering place for the Halpine area.
The proprietors, Benjamin and Anna Lenovitz, lived on the second floor. The building burned in 1923 and a new fire-resistant brick building was rebuilt in its place. This building, at 1600 Rockville Pike, became a Radio Shack, selling computers and electronics.
Source: Maryland Historical Trust
On the Self-Publishing Horizon … Again!
I’m excited to announce that for the last year or so, I’ve been thinking about self-publishing a photo book specific to my grandfather, Lewis Reed, with a working title of, “Lewis Reed Photograph Collection (1898-1960).” Looking back at photography from the past is a fascinating experience for me, and with a newfound interest in history, the curious part of me wants to learn more: When was the picture taken? Where? What is it? Who’s in it? The majority of his photos are more than 100 years old and many are lacking labels and/or dates, which requires quite a bit of research and a little photo detective work on my part.
With that in mind, I will be frequently spotlighting photographs that may not directly pertain to the history of Reed Brothers Dodge, but will have a lot to do with it’s founder, Lewis Reed. I will not try to be an historian; I will post photos and supply a few paragraphs of context. Many photographic images in this collection have never before been seen publicly in print and will be available in this book for the first time.
I’ve been sitting on this post for a few weeks, timid to hit the ‘publish’ button. Likely because the size of the project is overwhelming and committing to it is a bit daunting (although exciting at the same time). It doesn’t help that as the ambition of my projects and goals increase, so too, can self-doubt. Below is the Draft Table of Contents for the book, which I’m sure will see some revisions as I progress.
Having said that, I will be switching my focus and time to mostly photo identification and researching/writing for the book.
Time to get to work!
Draft Table of Contents
Books
Related Resources
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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