Lewis & Edgar Reed’s One-Room Schoolhouse
Circa 1898 class photo taken at Lewis and Edgar Reed’s one-room schoolhouse (Darnestown School). There were six grades in the school with one teacher. Minnie McAtee, teacher (right rear).
One of the most amazing photographs in my grandfather’s collection is of the one-room schoolhouse where he and his brother, Edgar, went to school. The photo was labeled “Darnestown School”. I cannot say with any certainty where this school was located, but my mother (Lewis Reed’s daughter) thought it was located on Thomas Kelley’s Farm on Route 28 in Darnestown.
In most rural (country) and small town schools, all of the students met in a single room. There, a single teacher taught academic basics to several grade levels of elementary-age boys and girls. The classroom of a one-room schoolhouse probably looked much like your own. The teacher’s desk may have been on a raised platform at the front of the room, however, and there would have been a wood-burning stove since there was no other source of heat. The bathroom would have been outside in an outhouse. It seems a far cry from the modern school world of today, but it was the reality of the rural education system.
Darnestown School. Note the outhouse on left. Photo by Lewis Reed
Source: Germantown MD Wikipedia
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.
Lewis Reed Photos: Remembering Trolley Cars of Rockville’s Past
This special post is a collection of early trolley car photos that were taken by Lewis Reed in the early 20th century. I wanted to share them because they offer a visual history of a part of Rockville’s transportation past.
With photography for a hobby, one that began even before automobiles were around, Lewis Reed had amassed a large library of photographs of buildings, farm carts drawn by oxen, trolley cars, and other historic spots in Maryland, Washington, DC and Virginia. Many of his early photographs are now part of the Montgomery County Historical Society photo archives.
Below are some vintage (circa early 1900s) trolley car photographs from Lewis Reed’s collection (click on photos to enlarge):
Lewis Reed took this photo of a trolley bound for Rockville with a five-by-four box camera which produced an image on a glass plate. Note the cow catcher on the front of the trolley.
The route of the Rockville trolley car started at the Washington terminus at Wisconsin and M streets in Northwest D.C., went up through Rockville along Rockville Pike and Montgomery Avenue to Laird Street and back again. From 1900 – 1935, the trolley cars went past Reed Brothers Dodge as they traveled up Rockville Pike.
1915 – Rockville Garage first gas station – a single pump. View looking West on Main Street of Rockville showing an early Trolley car. Also in the background is the old St Mary’s Cemetery.
Late 1920′s. Note the unpaved dirt road on Rockville Pike and trolley tracks running past Reed Brothers Dodge
Trolley Wreck – Montrose Rd & Rt 355
Trolley Wreck – Montrose Rd & 355
Georgetown Trolley Car
Trolley Car Interior and Passengers
Western Avenue car barn for the streetcars that served the Georgetown-Tenelytown-Bethesda-Rockville line
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 this car barn.
Map of the Rockville Trolley Line 1900-1935 – Peerless Rockville
Wright Brothers’ Historic Flying Demonstration at Fort Myers Through the Lens of Lewis Reed
This special post doesn’t have anything to do with Reed Brothers Dodge, but it does have a lot to do with it’s founder, Lewis Reed.
On this day in September 17,1908, the first military airplane in the world, built by the Wright brothers for the Army Signal Corps, made its first flight at Fort Myer, Virginia. Less than a thousand people witnessed the first flight at Fort Myer, because the general public was still doubtful that powered flight had been achieved. But Lewis Reed was there… and to commemorate that milestone, I have posted five original snippets of history that Lewis Reed captured through the lens of his camera that day.
Wright Brothers airplane in its hangar at Fort Myer, Virginia. Photo by Lewis Reed
Curtiss Model D with tricycle undercarriage. Photo by Lewis Reed
Curtiss Model D. Photo by Lewis Reed
Wright Model B with skids. Photo by Lewis Reed
Another early aircraft from 1909 was the Bleriot XI monoplane. Photo by Lewis Reed
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.
Books
Related Resources
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 
Recent Comments