Tag Archive | shortest road in Maryland
June 26, 2025  

Then & Now: The Original 1917 Rockville Garage

Reed Brothers Dodge and the surrounding area sure has changed a lot in its almost century-long history. You might not realize how much things have changed until you look back and see what it looked like in the past. For this post, I have used one of Lewis Reed’s original photographs for “then” and a Google Maps street view image from today for “now”.

THEN: In just a few short years, Lewis Reed had expanded his business significantly, constructing a two-story addition to the original building purchased by the Warfield’s (pictured here). The first floor housed the Service Department and the upper floor was used for parts storage. At the left side of the two-story building was a narrow vehicle entrance that led to the service department in the rear. A house can be seen behind the addition looking south. Lewis Reed later purchased the remaining residential lots in the triangle to expand his dealership in the back. Note the dirt surface of Veirs Mill Road on the left. The Rockville Fair Grounds are beyond the boarded fence on the right just across the Pike (which is also still an unpaved dirt road during this time).
1917 Rockville Garage

1917 view of the original Rockville Garage two-story addition. Until 1920, Dodge sported a set of six hexagonal windows in the back of each passenger cabin on their Touring and Roaster models. These were called cathedral lights and became the first trademark feature to make Dodge vehicles stand out from the rest. Parked in front is an early Dodge car with the exclusive Dodge Brothers cathedral-style rear curtain windows.

NOW: The color photograph below, 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 connector street behind the dealership’s original location was named “Dodge Street” by the State of Maryland following the dealership’s 1941 expansion. Dodge Street today is one of the shortest roads in the State of Maryland, running between the Rockville Pike (at Richard Montgomery High School) and Veirs Mill Road, a distance of only 250 feet.

Rockville Garage (Reed Brothers Dodge) original location at the triangle today. Google Image Capture, 2021