Then and Now: Commander Hotel Ocean City MD 1930
Few hotels in Ocean City can celebrate continually trading for over 90 years. The family owners can trace their local history back over 200 years. There have been many changes in the world of travel at that time, but The Commander’s beachfront boardwalk location remains as special today as it was on the day it all began.
Commander Hotel (THEN): The Commander Hotel first opened on Memorial Day in 1930, offering 62 rooms, a full American Plan dining room, and a kitchen equipped with wood-burning stoves. The hotel featured the city’s first elevator, in-room telephone service, and both ocean and boardwalk-facing front porch with rocking chairs. During the World War II era, the hotel welcomed doctors, lawyers, and executives. Each room was equipped with blackout curtains for use at night, which protected the windows from enemy shelling from offshore submarines.
Commander Hotel on the boardwalk at Ocean City, Maryland. Photo by Lewis Reed, ca. 1930
Commander Hotel (NOW): The same view today. The Commander Hotel was, for a long time, the northernmost hotel on the Boardwalk. Its dining room was famous and the Commander outranked many other hotels, enjoying “elite” status. The facility underwent a two-stage renovation in 1979, and in 1992 the cabanas near the pool were rebuilt. The original structure was razed in 1997 and the current eight-story Commander was constructed on the 14th Street site the following year.
Commander Hotel today
Then & Now: The New Raleigh Hotel Washington DC, 1912
Some of the city’s oldest hotels not only have a long history of storied visitors and impressive tales, but they’ve shaped the city’s landscape for decades and perhaps centuries. However, for every Hay-Adams, Willard Continental and Morrison-Clark, there’s a hotel like the the Raleigh Hotel that’s either been converted and or destroyed entirely.
Raleigh Hotel (THEN): Along with the Willard, the Raleigh Hotel was one of the largest and grandest hotels in Washington in the first part of the twentieth century. It held a commanding position on Pennsylvania Avenue across from the Old Post Office Building and was famous as a Mecca for patrons of the performing arts. In 1911, the building was razed and rebuilt as a 13-story Beaux Arts hotel.
The recently completed Raleigh Hotel at Pennsylvania Ave and 12th Street NW, built on the site of the previous Raleigh Hotel. Photo taken by Lewis Reed, ca. 1912
Raleigh Hotel (NOW): The hotel closed in 1963, its furnishings were sold off, and it was demolished a year later. Its replacement, a 14-story office building at 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, was completed in 1968, and it still stands on the site today.
The site of the Raleigh as it appears today.
The Pocono Mountains Premier Haunted House, Then & Now
With Halloween just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to feature a photograph that Lewis Reed took of the Saylorsburg Lake House Hotel, now the site of The Pocono Mountains Premier Haunted House, Hotel of Horror. The aging Lake House Hotel in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, once a vibrant Poconos retreat, was a popular hotel for the region’s tourists who were looking for fun on nearby Saylors Lake. During the hotel’s heyday, its staff was booking rooms a year in advance. Today, the former hotel’s fame is generated from its annual Halloween haunted-house attraction.
Lake House Hotel (THEN): The legend of the Lake House Hotel spans more than two-hundred years. According to local folklore, during World War II, many of the employees at the Lake House were called to assist in the Pennsylvania National Guard, leaving the local asylum with one lone security guard to watch over the entire building. The inmates escaped, made their way to the hotel and took it over. The insane patients performed experiments on the guests. What was once a renowned resort for the rich and famous, became a torture chamber.
The Lake House Hotel, Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. Photo taken by Lewis Reed, 1915.
Lake House Hotel (NOW): The hotel was purchased in 1990 and turned into an Antique Co-Op, and then in 1992 saw its first haunted house attraction. The Hotel of Horror and Altered Nightmares are both indoor, walk through Haunted House attractions featuring live actors and paranormal activity housed in the 200 year old “abandoned” Pocono Mountain resort once called The Lake House Hotel in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. This 2022 season will celebrate the 30th year that the Hotel of Horror has been fascinating and horrifying legions of fans from the far reaches of the United States and even internationally. To all the readers of this blog: Have a spooky, enjoyable and very safe Halloween!
The Hotel of Horror, The Pocono Mountains Premier Haunted House Attraction
Montgomery Magazine Wheels and Deals Feature
Reed Brothers is very proud and honored to be featured in the month of August/September 2022 Montgomery Magazine, “Then & Now” section. The black and white photograph above shows the expansion of Reed Brothers Dogde showroom and Gulf Gasoline Station that took place in 1941. At about the same time as the gas station was remodeled, Lewis Reed split up the Sales and Parts and Service operations by constructing a complete new building that was located at the intersection of at Montgomery Avenue and Dodge Street.
A closer look at the photo reveals the price of gasoline as 15 cents. On the right attached to a telephone pole is a sign pointing the way to Olney. In addition to the Gulf signage there is a small, barely visible sign below that promotes, “Clean Rest Rooms”.
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 Rt 355 and donated the remaining sliver to the City. The State of Maryland named the connector street behind the dealership’s original location “Dodge Street” following the dealership’s 1941 expansion.
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://digital.montgomerymag.com/issues/August-2022/index.html
Then & Now: River House Lodge, Rowelsburg, WV
This post is a continuation of a series of “Then & Now” images that will show photographs of buildings, street scenes, and other historical locales from Lewis Reed’s Photo Collection alongside photographs of how they appear today. Taken approximately 100 years apart, these photos show the River House Lodge in Rowelsburg, West Virginia, then and now.
River House Lodge (THEN): This little railroad town of Rowesburg has always had hotels, beginning with the original River House, an early tavern and hotel serving the needs of a growing town in the 1850s. The railroad brought prosperity to Rowlesburg, designed the town and named it. Mr. Rowles was a surveyor with the railroad and laid out the plots and streets for the town.
The house was designed at the turn of the century or just before but the features were unusual. The top part of the house was Edwardian with panels and battens, creating a kind of checkerboard appearance. The lower half of the house was finished with narrow wood siding. The gables were of wood shingles.
River House Lodge located on Main Street in Rowlesburg, West Virginia. Lewis Reed’s circa 1926 Dodge Brothers Sedan is parked in front. Photo by Lewis Reed.
River House Lodge (NOW): Today, the River House has been transformed into a small, boutique lodge tucked away in the mountains of West Virginia. Though razed long ago, the “New” River House now takes its place to welcome guests into a motif of railroading that once dominated the small town of Rowlesburg. B&O artifacts adorn the rooms and hallways. Pictures of the past history of the town take visitors back to a different time, one of railroading in its golden era.
One source says that the original River House was a tavern and railroad lodge operated by A.A. Perry. The lodge was the center of this small settlement, with homes scattered nearby. The building sat next to the railroad, as did most of the early structures in Rowlesburg. Downtown Rowlesburg Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
The River House Lodge today is still very recognizable.
Source: www.riverhouselodge.org
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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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