Montgomery County Saw & Grist Mills (1905-1910)
A key part of Montgomery County’s agricultural economy in the 18th and 19th centuries, grist mills ground wheat and corn into flour and meal for local farmers. Today, besides the more than 30 streets that are named for mills, all that is left are the remains that have been uncovered in our parks. All of the mill structures are in various stages of ruin and are barely visible today. The following photographs are a collection of fascinating historical images of Montgomery County Saw & Grist Mills taken by Lewis Reed from 1905-1910.
An unidentified lady poses in front of Black Rock Mill, circa 1905. Photo by Lewis Reed
Black Rock Grist & Saw Mill
Black Rock Mill was built by Thomas Hillary and has stood along the banks of Great Seneca Creek as a landmark since its construction in 1815-1816. The mill was in working operation for over a hundred years until a flood in 1920 destroyed a dam on Seneca Creek and damaged the mill. Today, it is a unique survivor of the many mills in Montgomery County harnessing the water-power of the creeks to grind wheat and corn into flour. It is one of only two mills standing in Montgomery County Maryland. As far as can be determined, Lewis Reed’s collection of about 20 Black Rock Mill photographs are some of the earliest known in existence.
Muncaster Mill. Photo by Lewis Reed
Muncaster Saw & Grist Mill 1760s
Joseph Elgar built saw and grist mill on Rock Creek, later known as Muncaster Mill. Muncaster Mill was built in the early 1800s and closed in 1925 due to competition from modern milling practices. It was burned to its foundation in 1935. At one time, as many as 12 other mills operated along Rock Creek but most disappeared before the Civil War. Muncaster Mill was the last mill to operate in what is now Rock Creek Park. During its lifetime, the mill served 30–50 farmers in the area. There were three millstones, each designed for a specific grinding job. One ground unshelled corn for animal feed; one coarsely ground wheat, barley, and oats; and one ground fine flour. For many years, there was also a sawmill, operated by a water turbine. The sawmill foundation was about 75 feet west of the grist mill site. The old miller’s house stood on Emory Lane near Muncaster Mill Road.
1910 Veirs Mill on Rock creek south of Veirs Mill Road operated from 1838-1880. Photo by Lewis Reed
Veirs Mill
The original Veirs Mill was built by Samuel Clark Veirs sometime after 1838 on the 400 acre farm which Veirs acquired in that year about two miles south of Rockville, on Rock Creek; the farm was part of an original land grant called “Prevention”. The sixth mill to be built on Rock Creek, Veirs Mill operated for approximately 80 years. The mill is identified as “Rock Creek Mills” and was located to what is now the intersection of Aspen Hill and Veirs Mill Roads. There are no above-ground remains of the Veirs Mill.
Hickerson Brothers Flour & Grist Mill 1910. Photo by Lewis Reed
Hickerson Brothers Grist Mill
Hickerson Brothers Grist Mill on Rock Creek south of Veirs Mill Road operated from 1838-1880. In 1925, Hickerson Brothers Lindsay and Clarence, operated a steam-powered grist mill near the B&O tracks until 1928-1929.
Clopper’s Mill. Photo by Lewis Reed
Clopper’s Mill
Clopper’s Mill was most active between 1850 and 1880, the arrival of the railroad and steam-powered mills had put an end to the water powered mills by the early 20th century. On April 15, 1865 Clopper’s Mill became part of national history when would-be assassin of the vice-president of the United States, George Atzerodt, spent the night there while fleeing from Washington D.C. after the assassination of President Lincoln. George was part of the gang assembled by John Wilkes Booth to eliminate the heads of the U.S. government. He was supposed to kill Vice-president Johnson at the Willard Hotel at the same time as Booth assassinated the President. But Atzerodt ran out of courage and instead made his way to Germantown. The mill was purchased by the state in 1955. The Clopper’s Mill ruins are significant as one of the few remaining distinguishable mills in the county. The ruins consist of stone and brick walls with no roof.
Liberty Mill. Photo by Lewis Reed
Liberty Mill. The Bowman Brothers built a steam-powered mill in 1888. When this mill burned down in 1914, an electric-powered mill was built and bought by the Liberty Milling Company in 1917. “Feed the Liberty Way” was the slogan for the mill which became the second largest mill in Maryland and supplied flour for the army during World War II. Cornmeal and animal feed were also made at the mill, and a mill store sold specialty mixes like pancake and muffin mix. After the war the mill went into decline, and was burned by arson May 30, 1972.
Rare peek at the inside of an old mill. Photo by Lewis Reed.
Source: Maryland Historical Trust
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.
Lewis Reed Photos to Appear on Science Channel ‘Impossible Engineering’
I recently received an e-mail from the researcher on the new Science Channel series ‘Impossible Engineering’. They found Lewis Reed’s collection of early dirt track race photos that were taken at the Rockville Fairgrounds and asked permission to use a couple of them in an upcoming episode they are making on the development of the race car.
The following 1923 dirt track race shots taken by Lewis Reed will be used on the program.
Rockville Fair, August 1923. Photo by Lewis Reed
Rockville Fair, August 1923. Photo by Lewis Reed
About Impossible Engineering
Behind every seemingly impossible marvel of modern engineering is a cast of historic trailblazers who designed new building techniques, took risks on untested materials and revolutionized their field. Brand new series, ‘Impossible Engineering’, is a tribute to their achievements. Each episode details how giant structures, record-beating buildings, war ships and space crafts are built and work. As the show revels in these modern day creations, it also leaps back in time to recount the stories of the exceptional engineers whose technological advances made it all possible. How would they have ever existed without the historical work of their ancestors? Interviews with their great advocates bring engineering history to life and retell how these incredible accomplishments shaped the modern world.
“Impossible Engineering” is produced for Science Channel by Twofour Broadcast. No mention of when it will be aired, so stay tuned!
Montgomery County Maryland Almshouse aka Poor Farm
The Montgomery County Maryland Almshouse aka Poor Farm was established in 1789 and torn down in 1959. A modern jail is on its site on Seven Locks Road near Falls Road. Photo taken by Lewis Reed.
A Poor Farm in Montgomery County? Yep. Although a lot of people have never heard of “poor farms,” they were once common across the nation. Various terms have been used to describe the “house for the poor,” and often the titles were unique to the part of the country where the house was located.
This is the Almshouse (aka Poor Farm). The 50-acre tract which includes the pauper’s graveyard was once part of the Montgomery County Poor Farm, established in 1789 as a place where the poor and homeless went to live, work, and, if they died, to be buried.
At the time, the farm was located well beyond the bounds of what was then the town of Rockville. But growth eventually caught up with the property. The farm house was razed in 1959 to make way for a county jail, and another chunk of property was dedicated for I-270. At least 75 graves were identified during a 1983 survey of the property by state archeologists, but according to George R. Snowden, funeral director, there may be as many as 500 people buried in the potter’s field.
Although the county’s poor farm existed for almost 170 years, virtually nothing has been documented about it, said Jane Sween, a librarian with the Montgomery County Historical Society. The property was deeded to the county in 1789 and expanded in 1825. After the Civil War, the farm’s almshouse was rebuilt, and until it was razed a century later it was home to an average of 40 indigent people, she said. The state paid for burial but did not pay for grave markers or upkeep on the property.
The Montgomery County Poor Farm Cemetery is no longer in existence. The National Park Service conducted an archaeological dig in 1987, which resulted in the removal of 38 bodies to Parklawn Cemetery in Rockville, Maryland. Montgomery County sold the land to a private developer.
108 Years Ago at Rockville High School
1911 Originally known as Montgomery County High School, later as Rockville High School. Photo by Lewis Reed
In honor of this year’s commencement, here is a look back at some 1910 class photos from Montgomery County High School that were taken by Lewis Reed. This is a collection of group photos of school children, some with the teacher, taken in 1910 from Montgomery County High School (Old Rockville High School). I wanted to share these photographs, because they offer a visual history of a part of Rockville’s past taken more than 100 years ago.
Most of the photos are labeled with only the year, so if you have corrections to the names or can identify other individuals, please contact me or leave a comment below. Several students have been identified by the Montgomery County Historical Society, which I have included.
In this era, students from grades one through eleven attended the public school at Montgomery Avenue and Monroe Street. Named Montgomery County High School with the addition of upper grades in 1892, as the school board opened other facilities it became Rockville High School and then, in 1935, Richard Montgomery High School. Students came to the school by train, trolley, and later by school bus from all corners of the county.
Step back in time into a much simpler past and get a look at class photos of Rockville High School students from over 108 years ago. As always, click the photos to get a better look. Some of the expressions on these students faces are priceless!
Old Rockville High School class c. 1910. Photo by Lewis Reed
Back row: Edward Story, Lena Ricketts, Tom Young, Louise Larcombe, Miss Ford, Fred Hays, Lucius Lamar, name unknown, name unknown.
Middle Row: name unknown, name unknown, Jesse Wathen, Jesse Higgins, name unknown, name unknown, Mary Hyatt, name unknown, name unknown.
Front Row: Maude England, Rebecca Lamar, (first name unknown) Garrett, Helen Pumphrey, (first name unknown) Lehman.
Old Rockville High School graduates 1910. Photo by Lewis Reed
Back: Harry Beall, Katherine Hughes.
Middle: names unknown
Front: Edith Prettyman, (first name unknown) Darby
Old Rockville High School First Baseball Team 1910. Photo by Lewis Reed
Front: Billy Beck, Tom Young, Ed Storey, Harry Beall, Roy Warfield.
Back: (first name unknown) Hicks, Lucius Lamar, name unknown, name unknown, Jesse Higgins, name unknown, name unknown, Fred Hays, Roger Whiteford.
Holding pennant: Griffith Warfield
Montgomery County High School 1910
Montgomery County High School 1910
Montgomery County High School 1910
Montgomery County High School 1910
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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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