Three Cars, Three Nights at the Rockville VFD Carnival
For generations of Rockville residents, summer once meant carnival time. Each year, the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department Carnival transformed its grounds along Rockville Pike into a gathering place filled with rides, games, music, food, and crowds of families and friends.
But in August 1956, the excitement reached another level.
During the final three nights of that year’s carnival, three brand-new automobiles were given away, one each night.
And one of them came from Reed Brothers Dodge.
The Rockville Volunteer Fire Department Carnival midway along Rockville Pike was a familiar summer gathering place for generations of local residents.
The Rockville Volunteer Fire Department had been holding its annual carnival since 1932. What began as a fundraiser grew into a Rockville tradition, eventually occupying approximately ten acres along Rockville Pike, directly across the highway from Reed Brothers Dodge.
Unlike a traveling carnival, much of the Rockville operation was permanent. Fire department members constructed and maintained the familiar red-and-white buildings on the grounds, along with a large dance pavilion built in 1947. For most of the year the property stood quiet. When carnival week arrived, the lights came on and the grounds were transformed.
Carnival entrance from the Pike, c. 1950. Photo credit: RVFD Photo Archives.
Reed Brothers was more than simply a neighbor across the Pike. The Reed family’s connection with the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department dated to the department’s organization in 1921. Edgar Reed and his brother Philip were among its original members, establishing a relationship between the Reed family and the fire department that continued for decades.
By then, Lewis Reed and Edgar Reed were operating Reed Brothers Dodge just across the road. The dealership had been selling Dodge automobiles in Rockville since 1915, and the two institutions would become familiar landmarks along Rockville Pike as the town grew around them.
Closer view of the carnival grounds reveals Reed Brothers Dodge directly across Rockville Pike. The dealership and carnival were longtime neighbors, while the Reed family’s connection with the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department dated to its organization in 1921.
By the 1950s, the automobile giveaway had become one of the most anticipated traditions of the Rockville VFD Carnival. A brand-new car was a spectacular grand prize, and local automobile dealers helped keep the tradition going over the years.
Few carnivals, however, could have matched what happened in 1956.
On August 16, the Montgomery County Sentinel announced the carnival’s final three nights with a headline certain to attract attention:
“Three Cars Given Away At Rockville Carnival.”
The Montgomery County Sentinel reported on August 16, 1956, that three new automobiles would be given away during the carnival’s final three nights.
Montgomery County was expanding rapidly, new neighborhoods were appearing, and the family automobile was becoming an essential part of everyday life.
A new car wasn’t simply another carnival prize. It was the grand prize.
For Reed Brothers, participating in the automobile giveaway was a natural extension of its longstanding connection to the fire department and the community. By 1956, the dealership had been selling Dodge automobiles in Rockville for more than forty years, and its buildings, signs, and rows of new cars were a familiar sight directly across the Pike from the carnival grounds.
The three automobiles were not the only attractions. The 1956 carnival offered rides, games, dancing, live entertainment, food, and prizes ranging from cooking utensils to stuffed bears. Admission was just 20 cents for adults, while children were admitted free.
Behind all the festivities was an important purpose. The Sentinel described the carnival as the culmination of a year’s work by members of the fire department and its principal source of financial support. At the time, the department received no tax money for its services.
Every admission, meal, game, and prize ticket helped support the firefighters who served the community.
A new Dodge offered as a grand prize at a later Rockville VFD Carnival. Automobile giveaways were a popular carnival tradition for many years. Photo credit: RVFD Photo Archives.
New automobiles would continue to be among the carnival’s most exciting prizes in the years that followed.
The Rockville VFD Carnival eventually disappeared as the community and the demands upon the fire department changed. Reed Brothers Dodge remained across the Pike for decades longer.
Today, photographs and newspaper accounts preserve a glimpse of an earlier Rockville, when the annual firemen’s carnival brought the community together and buying a carnival ticket might result in considerably more than a stuffed bear.
You might just drive home in a brand-new Dodge.
Sources:
Montgomery County Sentinel, August 16, 1956
Rockville Volunteer Fire Department historical archives
Reed Brothers Dodge History archives
Then & Now: Tenallytown & Rockville Pike Trolley Line
The latest installment in my Then & Now series takes us to south of Montrose Road where the Tenallytown and Rockville Pike trolley line intersects with Rockville Pike. The black & white photo was taken by Lewis Reed in 1910. The corresponding color photo is a Google Maps image, more than 100 years later. Matching the photos was a bit difficult as the location has changed so much, but you get the idea.
The Tennallytown and Rockville Railroad, which opened in 1890, was an extension of the Georgetown & Tenallytown Railway. The street car line was extended to Rockville in 1900 terminating at the fairgrounds. During the fair each fall, traffic was so heavy that two-car trains were run to accommodate the crowds. Later a further extension was made through Rockville on Montgomery Avenue to the Chestnut Lodge Sanitarium on the far side of town. In 1935, the Rockville trolley line ceased operation, leaving gasoline-powered buses as the only mode of public transportation serving this corridor until the Metrorail Red Line opened in 1984.
THEN: Tenallytown and Rockville Pike Trolley Line, 1910
In this photograph dated 1910, a trolley heads south from Rockville toward Tenallytown through open farmland. The view appears to be looking north and shows the area south of where Montrose Road intersects with Rockville Pike. The Pike is the white strip running diagonally behind the trolley car. The elevated vantage point, possibly from an adjacent rooftop or the roof of a barn, affords an excellent view of the rural countryside.
A trolley heads south from Rockville toward Tenallytown through open farmland. This view appears to be looking north and shows the area south of where Montrose Road intersects with Rockville Pike. The Pike is the white strip running diagonally behind the trolley car. Photo by Lewis Reed, 1910
NOW: The Bethesda Trolley Trail
Today, the six-mile Bethesda Trolley Trail connects Bethesda and Rockville for bicyclists, runners and pedestrians, following the route of the Tenallytown and Rockville Railroad, the former trolley line.
Woodglen Drive follows the old Bethesda Trolley Trail route today. The junction now is far from the tranquil road it once was. Google Maps image.
If there’s an historic wayside marker on the side of the road in Montgomery County, chances are, one of Lewis Reed’s images is on it. From Trolley to Trail Marker in Bethesda is one of many markers in Montgomery County that feature images from Lewis Reed’s collection of photographs.
From Trolley to Trail Marker in Bethesda
Location: Marker is in Bethesda, Maryland and can be reached from Norfolk Avenue near Rugby Avenue.
Duplicate: Another nearly identical marker is located at the exit ramp from westbound Montrose Parkway to northbound Rockville Pike (MD 355).
From Trolley to Trail Marker in Bethesda
From Trolley to Trail Wayside Marker in Bethesda. Close up of photos on marker taken by Lewis Reed.
Lewis Reed Photo Featured on Maryland Public Television
Lewis Reed’s aerial photograph of entire original Reed Brothers Dodge dealership at the intersection of Veirs Mill Road and Rockville Pike was used in Maryland Farm & Harvest Season 6, Episode 606, which was aired on December 18, 2018 at 7:00 pm on MPT. The photo illustrates what Rockville Pike looked like at the time, during a segment about 97-year-old farmer Charles Koiner who grew up in the Rockville area. At 97, Charles still farms full time, with the help of his 72-year-old daughter, Lynn Koiner.
Lewis Reed’s photo extracted from the Maryland Farm & Harvest MPT video.
Screen shot of credits from Maryland Farm & Harvest video on MPT
About the Show
Maryland Public Television (MPT) in partnership with the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) has created Maryland Farm & Harvest, a multimedia series that puts a human face on farming. Hosted by Joanne Clendining, Maryland Farm & Harvest takes viewers around the state to see and experience what it’s like to run a 21st century farm – from technological advances and conservation challenges to age-old complications such as weather hardships. Maryland Farm & Harvest also captures the number one reason why planters and growers dedicate themselves to it all: their simple love of farming.
Here’s How Rockville’s Trolley Era Looked Over 115 Years Ago
This special post is a collection of early trolley car photos that were taken by Lewis Reed in the early 20th century. Trolleys existed in American cities before the Civil War, but a line did not connect Washington, DC to Rockville, Maryland, until 1900.
The agreement between the town of Rockville and the W&R Railway Co. ran for 35 years. From 1900 to 1935, street cars plied the track from the Washington terminus at Wisconsin and M Streets, N.W., up Wisconsin and then Old Georgetown Road, over a steel trestle just before the cars approached Georgetown Prep, through dense woods at Montrose and onto the Rockville Pike, through Rockville on Montgomery Avenue, to Laird Street, and back again. The cars could be driven from either end. In 1929, W&R ran 24 trips a day between 6:30 a.m. and 12:30 a.m. to connect Rockville and Washington. Major stops along the line included Georgetown, Alta Vista, Bethesda, Montrose, Halpine, the Fairgrounds, Courthouse Square, and Chestnut Lodge. Six switching stations and side tracks enabled street cars to pass as they went in different directions.
Below are a collection of photographs taken by Lewis Reed that shows what the old trolley cars looked like, highlighting what riding the trolley car was like in the early 1900s. From wood-paneled exteriors with ceiling fans to advertisements, here’s a nostalgic look back at Rockville’s Trolley car era through the lens of Lewis Reed. (click on photos to enlarge)
Western Avenue car barn for the streetcars that served the Georgetown-Tenelytown-Bethesda-Rockville line. Photo by Lewis Reed
A car barn is the streetcar equivalent of a garage for buses. It’s a covered facility in which streetcars were stored overnight, cleaned and given light repairs before the next day’s run. The car barn for the trolleys at the time was the second Western Avenue car barn for the streetcars that served the Georgetown-Tenelytown-Bethesda-Rockville line. It was located at on west side of Wisconsin at between Harrison and Jennifer. It was demolished and later replaced by a purpose-built bus garage which is still in use by WMATA. The National Capital Trolley Museum was instrumental in helping to identify the car barn in the photo above.
Leroy King described the street car below as one of Washington Railway’s majestic “Rockville” cars, at 4 switch in 1908. Note multiple unit jumper box under center front window.
Passengers board car #596 heading to Rockville in 1908. These distinctively styled cars, popularly know as ‘Rockville’ cars, were also used on Washington Railway’s Maryland line. Note the ‘people catcher’ or ‘lifeguard’ in the front. Photo by Lewis Reed, 1908
Traveling in snow was sometimes hazardous to trolley cars, as evidenced by the trolley pictured below which derailed the train tracks and plowed into a telephone pole at Montrose Road and Rockville Pike. Lewis Reed was there to capture the accident from two different perspectives using a five-by-four box camera which produced images on a glass plate.
In populated areas, street cars kept speeds to 12 mph (6 mph at intersections), but in open country they could get up to 40 mph.
Derailed trolley at Montrose Road and Rockville Pike. Photo by Lewis Reed
Derailed trolley through dense woods at Montrose Road and Rockville Pike. Photo by Lewis Reed
Rockville Trolley Car 592. Photo by Lewis Reed
A trolley heads south from Rockville toward Tenallytown through open farmland. This view appears to be looking north and shows the area south of where Montrose Road intersects with Rockville Pike. The Pike is in the background. Photo by Lewis Reed, 1910
Trolley tracks on Rockville Pike south of Sherrer Farm. Note that one of the young men is holding a bicycle. Photo by Lewis Reed, ca. 1911
The Archival Producer for television’s most-watched history series, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE on PBS, found the photograph of the 1920’s trolley interior on this blog and asked permission to use it in the documentary, “The Great War,” a six-hour, three-night event, that premiered April 10-12, 2017 in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of America’s entry into WWI.
All of these prints were originally made from a glass plate negative, an early photographic technique which was in common use between the 1880s and the late 1920s. The early 1900s were considered by many to be the golden era of early photography, because of its new availability to the public and somewhat simplified production methods. Many of Lewis Reed’s early photographs are now part of the Montgomery County Historical Society photo archives.
Interior of 1920’s Rockville trolley car. Photo taken by Lewis Reed
Panels for advertising line the edge of the ceiling on both sides of the trolley. Instead of AC, the interiors were cooled with wooden ceiling fans.
Rare peak of the inside of a 1920’s trolley car and passengers featured in PBS documentary “The Great War”. Photo taken by Lewis Reed
Rockville Trolley Line 1900-1935 – Peerless Rockville 2002
Sources: Rockville Pike History – City of Rockville
History of the Street Car Lines of Montgomery County
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.
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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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