Tag Archive | Then & Now images
January 10, 2019  

Then & Now: Rockville Garage 102 Years Ago

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: The photo below is the Rockville Garage located at its original location at the triangle at Veirs Mill Road and Rockville Pike. In 1917, Reed Brothers became an authorized Texaco Filling Station and sold Texaco gasoline from a single pump. To the right is a Texaco Gasoline Filling Station sign. One very tall Texaco branded fuel pump can be seen in this photo along with two Texaco Petroleum refueling trucks. Parked in front is a line-up of some very early Dodge Brothers Motor Cars.

Note the unpaved dirt road on Rockville Pike and trolley tracks running past the dealership. From 1900-1935, the trolley cars went past Reed Brothers Dodge as they traveled up Rockville Pike. Major stops along the line included Georgetown, Alta Vista, Bethesda, Montrose, Halpine, the Fairgrounds, Courthouse Square, and Chestnut Lodge. 

1917 Original Rockville Garage

1917 Original Rockville Garage with 2 story addition. Note the Texaco Filling Station signage and the Texaco Petroleum fuel truck refilling the single pump in front. Photo by Lewis Reed

NOW: The “now” photo is a google maps image of the same location… 102 years later. 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 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 state named the connector street behind the dealership’s location “Dodge Street” because Reed Brothers Dodge dealership was located there for more than 50 years. New pavement has long since replaced the trolley tracks on Rockville Pike in this photo.

Veterans Park

Reed Brothers Dodge original location at the triangle today. Google Image, 2019.

October 19, 2018  

Then & Now: Library of Congress

You might not realize how much Washington DC has changed until you look back and see what it looked like in the past. In this “Then & Now” feature, I have combined one of Lewis Reed’s original photograph’s for “then” and matched it with a corresponding contemporary shot for “now”.

Library of Congress (THEN): The Library of Congress was relocated to Washington, DC, in 1800, having previously been housed in New York and Philadelphia, which had each served as temporary capitals of the early United States of America. It is the research library serving the U.S. Congress as well as the national library of the United States, and it holds over 23 million volumes in its collection, making it the world’s largest library. The structure as it stands today was erected between 1888 and 1894, following the 1851 fire that destroyed 35,000 of the Library’s books (two-thirds of its holdings at that time), including much of Thomas Jefferson’s donated collection.

Library of Congress

Library of Congress. Photo by Lewis Reed, ca. 1910

Library of Congress (NOW): The same view 108 years later. Now, the Library of Congress is one of the largest and best-equipped libraries in the world. It houses approximately 90 million items on 540 miles of shelves.  The Library of Congress is physically housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill and a conservation center in rural Virginia. The Library’s Capitol Hill buildings are all connected by underground passageways, so that a library user need pass through security only once in a single visit.

Library of Congress

Library of Congress today

Source: Wikipedia

June 19, 2018  

Then & Now: Reed Brothers Dodge 80 Years Ago

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: Aerial view showing Reed Brothers Dodge at its original location at the triangle close to 80 years ago. The connector street behind the dealership was later named “Dodge Street” commemorating Reed Brothers’ presence from 1914-1970. Photo taken by Lewis Reed from a Goodyear Blimp that came to the dealership in 1938 to promote tires.

Reed Brothers Dodge Aerial

Aerial view of entire original Reed Brothers dealership at the intersection of Veirs Mill Road and Rockville Pike, ca. 1940. A two-story house stands behind the dealership. Photo by Lewis Reed.

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 state named the connector street behind the dealership’s location “Dodge Street” because Reed Brothers Dodge dealership was located there for more than 50 years.

Reed Brothers Dodge location 2018

Reed Brothers Dodge original location at the triangle today. Google Image Capture, 2018

May 30, 2018  

New Blog Feature: Then & Now

Then & Now

Looking back at photography from the past is a fascinating experience for me, and with a newfound interest in history, it occurred to me that with the vast number of historical photographs in Lewis Reed’s Collection, that this blog would be a great place to feature a series of Then & Now photography. I started doing this about a year ago as a research tool, now I mostly do it because of my passion for history and fascination with the subject. With that in mind, I will occasionally be spotlighting some “Then & Now” images from his collection that will show photographs of buildings, street scenes, and other historical locales alongside photographs of how they appear today.

Some of the historic locations in this series includes the Smithsonian, Capitol, Union Station, Old Post Office, Library of Congress, Raleigh Hotel, Key Bridge and other important sites in and around the Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. area. There are also photographs of many non-Maryland locations including the historic landmark “Lucy the Elephant”, Gettysburg Battlefield, Mount Vernon, Pennsylvania Monument and United States Regulars Monuments under construction, and Quebec Bridge (the 8th Wonder of the World).

I have no formal history training, just a general interest in local history where I grew up. I will post one of Lewis Reed’s photographs matched with a corresponding contemporary shot of the same area, and supply a few sentences of context. All of them will in some way will offer a visual history of how things have changed over the years. I look forward to sharing them with you.

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