New Blog Feature: Rockville’s Past Through the Lens of Lewis Reed
Lewis Reed (founder of Reed Brothers Dodge) was a well-known photographer in Montgomery County. Many of his photographs are now part of the Montgomery County (Maryland) Historical Society photo archives. He even developed his own photographs.
Looking back at photography from the past is a fascinating experience for me. Since I started this blog, I have had the opportunity to look through my grandfather’s extensive collection of photographs from historical locations in Maryland, Washington, DC and Virginia. Some of the photos are more than 100 years old! Lewis Reed was a well-known photographer in the county and many of his early photographs are now part of the Montgomery County Historical Society photo archives. The Jane C. Sween Library was recently given a collection of 280 glass plate negatives, showing Montgomery County in the early 20th century.
Every now and then the light bulb goes off and a new idea is born. It occurred to me that with the vast number of photographs in his albums, that this blog would be a great place to highlight some of them. With that in mind, I will be spotlighting photographs from his albums occasionally that may not pertain to Reed Brothers Dodge.
I have no formal history training, just a general interest in local history where I grew up. I will not try to be an historian; I will post a photo and supply a few sentences of context. All of them will in some way will offer a visual history of a part of Rockville’s past. I look forward to sharing them with you.
Rare 1920s Aerial Photos of Reed Brothers Dodge
A retrospective of Lewis Reed’s rare aerial photographs of Reed Brothers Dodge dealership and images of Rockville Maryland circa 1920s – 1930s. With photography for a hobby, one that began even before automobiles were around, Lewis Reed amassed a large library of photographs showing Montgomery County in the early 20th century. Many of his photographs are now part of the Montgomery County Historical Society photo archives.
Lewis Reed was not an aviator, but he obviously saw great potential in taking photographs from the air. The aerial photographs below were taken by Lewis Reed sometime during the 1920s and 30s and are quite possibly some of the earliest known aerial photographs taken of Rockville. (click on images to enlarge)
Aerial view of Reed Brothers Dodge circa 1936 with canopied Gulf Gas Station. A two-story house stands behind the dealership.
Later aerial view showing the used car lot where previously stood a two-story house. St Mary’s Church at lower portion of photo. The connector street behind the dealership was later named “Dodge Street” in honor of Lewis Reed because his dealership was located there for so many years (1914-1970).
1920s – Original Reed Brothers facility with St Mary’s Church and Cemetery at upper portion of photo. The road at the bottom is Rockville Pike.
1920s – Original Reed Brothers facility at the intersection of Veirs Mill Road and Rockville Pike. “Pigeon Bridge” on Veirs Mill Road is at the top of the picture. Note the unpaved dirt road.
An early 1920s aerial view looking over Rockville. Red Brick Courthouse tower can be seen top left.
This 1920s aerial image of Rockville appears to be the opposite perspective as the one above. Confederate Monument is visible in the triangle at bottom left and the Red Brick Courthouse tower is across the street on the right.
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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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