Reed Brothers Dodge Yearbook Ads from 1930-1957
Reed Brothers Dodge was always a supporter of local high school yearbooks. The advertising section at the back of high school yearbooks offer a glimpse at the businesses of the town the school is in, which can be particularly useful for small towns that may not have had their own city directories. The listings usually always included addresses for the businesses, and sometimes, photographs of the businesses themselves.
A blurb preceding the 1939 Richard Montgomery High School Rocket Yearbook reads:
The folks who have advertised here have a civic interest in Rockville. They manifest this interest by their advertisement in the ROCKET. Now you ROCKET owners do your part by patronizing those who have an interest in bettering your school and your community!
The following yearbook ads from Richard Montgomery, Gaithersburg, Sherwood, Damascus and Poolesville High Schools are dated from 1930-1957. Not many high school yearbooks are online, but most of the ads below were found on E-Yearbook.com, an online resource for the largest online collection of old and new high school yearbooks on the Internet.
1930 Richard Montgomery High School “Rocket” Yearbook Ad (Rockville, MD)
1934 Richard Montgomery High School “Rocket” Yearbook Ad (Rockville, MD)
In 1930, Reed Brothers added the Plymouth line. The first Plymouth was built in 1928 and Plymouths were sold at Reed Brothers until 1969, when the brand was given to the Chrysler dealers. The fact that the phone number was just ’67′ in the ad above gives a real feeling of how different life was back then.
1935 Richard Montgomery High School “Rocket” Yearbook Ad (Rockville, MD)
1951 Sherwood High School “Leaves” Yearbook Ad (Sandy Spring, MD)
Reed Brothers Dodge had a separately maintained glass shop in their service department which was equipped to replace all types of automobile glass. In addition to auto replacements, glass was also cut for mirrors and table tops. Another innovation of the repair department was a separate paint and body shop which was located next to the glass shop. Reed Brothers was capable of repairing all makes and models from all manufacturers with factory-prepared paints available to match any color of car.
1951 Poolesville High School “Sugar Loaf Echo” Yearbook Ad (Poolesville, MD)
1954 Damascus High School “Scimitar” Yearbook Ad (Damascus, MD)
1955 Richard Montgomery High School “Rocket” Yearbook Ad (Rockville, MD)
1956 Richard Montgomery High School “Rocket” Yearbook Ad (Rockville, MD)
The photo in the ad above was taken inside the new car showroom at Reed Brothers original location at the triangle at Veirs Mill Road and Rockville Pike. The people posing in the ad are two Reed Brothers employees: W. Lester Wilson, and Evelyn Beane Norris. Lester Wilson started at Reed Brothers in 1918 as a Mechanic (and first Service Manager) and stayed for 28 years. Evelyn B. Norris joined the business in 1945 and worked as Administrative Secretary.
1956 Gaithersburg High School “Sail On” Yearbook Ad (Gaithersburg, MD)
1957 Gaithersburg High School “Sail On” Yearbook (Gaithersburg, MD)
Source: E-Yearbook.com, the largest online collection of digitized high school yearbooks
1922 Bus Stop Scene on Rockville Pike
1922 GMC Hagerstown Bus taking on passengers at a bus stop across the street from Reed Brothers Dodge in Rockville, Maryland
Vehicles from this era are fascinating and are often photographed with equally fascinating surroundings. The photograph above is a unique, early photograph of a Hagerstown Bus owned by Forsyth’s Garage & Transfer of Rockville. The bus is an early GMC. The tag on bus is dated 1922 and behind the bus on the left is the bus station with signs that say “Pay Gate” and “Pass Gate”. The banner across the road says “Montgomery County Fair, Rockville, MD” and the dates. Directly across the street is Reed Brothers Dodge. The photograph was found on WorthPoint.com, an online resource for researching art, antiques and collectibles, etc.
The photograph below was taken by Lewis Reed during the same time frame only from a different perspective. It is also dated 1922, and the bus stop would have been right in front of the boarded fence across the main road (later the Rockville Pike). The Rockville Fair Grounds are just beyond the boarded fence. Buses and trolleys used to go past Reed Brothers as they traveled up Rockville Pike. The Fairgrounds was one of the stops along the line.
Reed Brothers Dodge, 1922. The original part of the garage was converted into a new car showroom and the service operation was moved out into the rear portion of the building. Note the “modern” gas pumps. The Rockville Fair Grounds are beyond the boarded fence.
I enjoy solving mysteries and digging deep to find information on vintage motor vehicles and today I am sharing what has turned up in my research.
I found an interesting article in the Motor Age, Volume 41, March 23, 1922 on page 16, titled – General Motors Develops Motor Bus, and I have extracted the article as follows:
A twenty-passenger motor bus was introduced by the General Motors Truck Company, Pontiac, Michigan, which is mounted on a chassis designed for this type of body. By combining a long wheelbase with long, flexible semi-elliptic springs together with 36 by 6 in. cord tires, easy riding qualities have been the result. The body overhangs the frame slightly which, it is said, eliminates much of the side-sway and whipping more or less common with buses mounted on a wheelbase length considerably shorter than the body. The frame on the chassis overhangs the rear axle but slightly.
The standard G.M.C. 2-ton powerplant is used and it is claimed that a road speed of 30 miles an hour, to which the bus is governed, is readily obtainable. In test, the bus fully loaded, was driven at 25 miles per hour up to a 4% grade on high gear. The G.M.C. 4 x 5 1/2 in. powerplant, which has been described in these pages, incorporates features such as removable cylinder sleeve, removable valve lifter assemblies, pressure lubrication, dual cooling, hot-spot vaporization, etc, and the governor equipment is a fly-ball type which has also been described.
The bus body for this new equipment is furnished with two seating arrangements, one adapted particularly to inter-urban bus operation and the other designed for city passenger work. The body is built of oak reinforced with metal and is finished outside in smooth paneled surfaces. In order to accommodate the narrow roads, the bus has been built to a width of 74 in. and the seating arrangement has been made to correspond with this width without sacrifice to comfort of balance.
The interior of the bus is finished in paneled oak with rattan seats. The equipment is complete including non-rattling adjustable windows, complete buzzer signal system, front entrance door controlled from the driver’s seat and rear emergency door. The equipment also includes a rear vision mirror, dome lights and an advertising card rack. The fuel tank is located outside and is filled from outside without inconvenience or fire risk. The fuel is fed to the engine by vacuum system.
1922 GMC 20-passenger motor bus
July 4, 1922: First MCPD Posing in Front of Reed Brothers Dodge
This photograph is the first known photograph of the entire MCPD. Pictured left to right: Earl Burdine, Lawrence Clagett, Guy Jones, Chief Charles Cooley, Leroy Rodgers, and Oscar Gaither. Photo by Lewis Reed
This blog entry is posted today to commemorate the anniversary of the Montgomery County Police Department. It was 95 years ago on July 4, 1922 that the MCPD was first established. In those days, Montgomery County was farm country, sparsely populated, automobiles sharing dirt roads with horse-drawn wagons. But it was changing into a proper suburb, and there needed to be a police department.
Posing in front of Reed Brothers Dodge on July 4, 1922 Chief Charles Cooley, center, and his men of the first mounted unit of the Montgomery County Police Force, were on their first day of duty. For several years, since there was no police station, the officers would meet for “roll call” on the steps of the red brick courthouse at 2:00 p.m. every day to let each other know they were alive and well. Chief Cooley was given the privilege of a Model T Ford. Each of the officers was issued a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, a .38 Smith & Wesson handgun, a black jack, law book and was allotted $300.00 a year for the upkeep of their motorcycle. Jones patrolled Silver Spring, Rodgers the Bethesda-Chevy Chase area and Burdine, Clagett and Gaither the Upper County areas.
Source: Montgomery County, Two Centuries of Change by Jane C. Sween
Offutt’s General Store, with a 1919 Dodge Truck Purchased from Reed Brothers Dodge Parked in Front
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.
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.
Reed Brothers Dodge Featured in Montgomery Magazine
Reed Brothers is very proud and honored to be featured in the month of April/May 2017 Montgomery Magazine, historic landmarks “Then & Now” section. The black and white photograph above is Reed Brothers Dodge located at its original location in Old Rockville at the triangle at Veirs Mill Road and Rockville Pike – close to 100 years ago – with “That Good Gulf” gasoline drive-through filling station and Dodge Brothers Motor Car and Graham Brothers Truck signage. The Alemite sign in front indicates that Reed Brothers also sold and used the Alemite lubricating system.
In 1918, the Gulf Refining Co. adopted a brick and tile roof station with canopy supported by four brick columns covering two front driveways. “That Good Gulf” was one of the Company’s marketing slogans for a number of years during the twenties and thirties. The second story was added to the showroom with a glazed front looking out onto Rockville Pike on the right. The photo was taken by Lewis Reed in the late 1920s. Note the unpaved dirt road on Rockville Pike and trolley tracks running past the dealership. (click on images to enlarge)
The color photograph above, is the dealership’s location today, 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 rededicated as Veterans Park. In the late 1960s, the state of Maryland acquired the land to widen 355 and donated the remaining sliver to the City. The state named the connector street behind the dealership’s location “Dodge Street” because Reed Brothers Dodge dealership was located there for more than 50 years.
Montgomery Magazine is a lifestyle magazine, with timely articles on county leaders, entertainment, sports, neighborhood and restaurant profiles, entrepreneurs, historic landmarks then and now, plus seasonal special sections of local interest.
Find the issue online at: http://www.montgomerymag.com/MM_Newsletters.html
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.
Recent Comments