Embedded Files
Site History of Reed Brothers Dodge
For over a half-century, the property occupied by Reed Brothers Dodge became a community icon and a local landmark for motorists traveling to and through Rockville.
This section features a series of images from historical Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps that illustrate how Rockville Garage/Reed Brothers Dodge evolved in the city’s built environment from 1915 to 1960.
What are Sanborn Maps?
From the late-1800’s to the mid-1960’s, the Sanborn Map Publishing Company of New York City created complex footprint maps of approximately 13,000 American cities. Fires were an all-too-common danger, sometimes wiping out major portions of a block, and insurance companies went to great lengths to know what they were insuring. They periodically sent out map-making teams to gather information about the buildings in cities they served. The maps were color-coded by building material (yellow for frame construction, pink for brick, blue for concrete) and often contained the locations of firefighting equipment and water sources.
Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Sanborn maps were regularly updated as cities and towns grew and changed. Specific changes in an individual site such as when a building was built, expanded, or torn down, can often be dated within a reasonably accurate time frame, depending on how many different map editions for that city are available.
Today, Sanborn maps are rarely used by insurance companies, having been supplanted by new technologies. However, these maps remain a vital source of historical information, providing a visual sense of the development and changes that took place in cities over time and invaluable in uncovering a business’s long-lost historical details.
The Sanborn Fire Insurance Company produced maps of Rockville, Maryland in 1892, 1897, 1903, 1908, 1915, 1924, 1949, and 1960. Selected sections of the much-larger original plates have been provided here to show details. Along with each map is a photograph that provides a visual of how Reed Brothers Dodge grew over the years. These maps provide a detailed picture of Rockville Garage/Reed Brothers Dodge at different stages in its 55-year history at the triangle.
Sample key explaining all the abbreviations, color coding, and symbols used to create the maps produced by the Sanborn Map Publishing Company.
1908
The August 1908 Sanborn map shows the junction of Rockville & Georgetown Turnpike and Washington Road before the Rockville Garage existed. (The future site would be the empty "point" of the triangle formed by the intersecting roads)
The map reveals three two-story dwellings further back in the triangle. Letters A, B, and C in front of the dwellings are arbitrary identifications supplied by the Sanborn Map Company, as house numbers were not commonly assigned until later in the century.
The fairgrounds of the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair Association (a.k.a. "Rockville Fair") was located directly across the Rockville & Georgetown Turnpike. Compared to the Rockville of today, the sparseness of structures in this 1908 map really stands out.
1915
Rockville, Maryland: November 1915 [Sheet 5 detail] Sanborn Map Company (Library of Congress)
This enlarged section of the November 1915 map shows the one-story Rockville Garage at the junction of Rockville & Georgetown Turnpike and Washington Road. Lewis Reed and brothers Robert and Griffith Warfield established the Rockville Garage in this location after acquiring the building from Lee Ricketts and Sons in July 1915. A few months later, this map was drawn, indicating the position of the Rockville Garage within the triangle, along with five two-story dwellings, and one vacant lot (the number “28” represents the official designation for the block provided by the city or arbitrarily assigned by the Sanborn Map Company).
[Note: “CADIZ ALLEY” was an arbitrary moniker supplied by the Sanborn Map Company in the absence of any official name assigned to this road.]
Pictured: the 1915 Rockville Garage building, with the single gas pump out front. The roofs of the three dwellings behind it can be seen in the background.
These maps are quite specific, not only in representing graphically the dimensions of buildings and spaces around them, but also in the details of the construction materials and activities that took place there.
Notations on this map indicate that the garage had a 15-car capacity as well as a single 285 gallon buried gasoline pump: its location was indicated with a small circle.
You can also see notes written in regarding building features such as:
“Heat: Stove In Office”
“Lights: Electric”
“Earth Floor”
1924
Lewis Reed began expanding in 1917 with a two-story addition behind the original garage.
This enlarged view from the 1924 map shows the garage capacity has increased to 30 cars.
If you look closely, you can see the annotations “G.T.” [Gasoline Tank] by four open circles—these indicate the gasoline supply is stored in tanks buried just in front of the building.
The solid black circles mark the location of fire hydrants.
The dealership’s Office is identified by “OFF.”
Other notes written in regarding building features include:
“Heat: Steam”
“Lights: Electric”
The small circles in the corners of the main building indicated it had a slate or tin roof.
The numbers immediately in front of the buildings facing the streets are the official address numbers assigned by this time.
Saint Mary’s Catholic Church and cemetery (pictured below) is also visible on the map across Washington Rd. (now an extension of Veirs Mill Road) where it still stands today.
Rockville, Maryland: November 1924 [Sheet 7 detail] Sanborn Map Company (Library of Congress)
The building depicted by Sanborn in 1924 would have been this remodeled version, completed in 1921. The original garage building was converted into a showroom and the service section was moved to the rear portion of the structure. The fairgrounds can be seen beyond the fence on the right.
1949
The next Sanborn survey wasn't published until 1949. This map shows the expansion of the showroom and Gulf Gas Station that took place at Reed Brothers in 1941. At about the same time the gas station was remodeled, Lewis Reed split up the Sales and Parts and Service operations by constructing a completely new building (in blue) at the back of the lot. By this time, Cadiz Alley had been renamed "Dodge Street." Only one of the two-story houses remains behind the greatly expanded dealership buildings--the newest parts and service building stands behind it.
Rockville, Maryland: June 1949 [Sheet 10 detail] Sanborn Map Company (Library of Congress)
Late-1940s aerial view of the Reed Brothers Dodge property. (Photo taken by Lewis Reed from a Goodyear blimp)
In this image of the June 1949 map, you can see notes written within the “Auto Repair” buildings regarding construction materials such as:
“Cinder Block”
“Steel Trusses”
“Pilasted Walls”
”Conc. Fls” [Concrete Floors]
This map reveals that Reed Brothers has implemented automatic sprinklers throughout Auto Sales & Service as indicated by the symbol “AS” within a circle.
The solid black circle with “D.H.” at the top of the map identifies a Double Hydrant.
New buildings for Auto Sales & Service and Auto Repair have replaced dwellings A, B, and C. One remaining two-story dwelling stands near the back of the dealership, in front of the new Parts and Service building.
Block number (28) has been changed to “97”.
1960
This final map was the last one created for Montgomery County by the Sanborn company, updated as of January, 1960. Due to changes in the highway in 1953, Reed Brothers began an extensive remodeling and rebuilding program, consisting of a sizable addition to the service shop which enlarged the showroom area and housed the Parts Department. Two-thirds of the original structure standing at the point of the triangle was razed and a modern Gulf Service Station was erected. The map detail reveals the new Gulf “ice box” design filling station in front. The last two-story house has been demolished and replaced with a parking lot and used car lot, filling up the last of the space at the back side.
Note: the updates made to Sanborn maps were often pasted in on top of the base map that had been drawn in a previous year. If you look closely at this image, you can see the shadows of the old structures, now covered over with the updated drawing glued on top.
Rockville, Maryland: June 1949, updated to 1960 [Sheet 10 detail] Sanborn Map Company (Library of Congress)
1960s aerial view of the Reed Brothers Dodge property, showing a used car lot occupying the space where the last dwelling had stood. The roofline of the newly constructed St. Mary's Parochial School depicted in the Sanborn map can be seen at the bottom edge of this photo. The building in the top right of the photo must have been brand-new when this picture was taken, as it does not appear in the 1960 Sanborn image.
Note: the small white frame structure near the intersection in the upper left section is Dr. Stonestreet's medical office, already relocated twice from its original location on Stonestreet's property on Monroe St., and about ten years before it would be donated to the historical society and relocated to the Beall-Dawson House property.
1971
In 1970, Reed Brothers Dodge relocated its business to a brand new service complex at 15955 Rockville Pike, several miles north of its old location. The buildings on the Dodge Street site were all demolished to allow for re-routing of the Veirs Mill Road and Rockville Pike intersection.
February, 1971: demolition of the original Rockville Garage buildings, which had stood on the Veirs Mill/Rockville Pike location for more than fifty years. (Montgomery History, Sentinel Photo Morgue)
This photo of the Reed Brothers Dodge site was taken later in 1971, after the business had been relocated to 15955 Frederick Rd. and the buildings had been razed. (Montgomery History, photo by Bob Pusey)
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