02/11/2017 - 365 Main Street Project – 313 of 365

Laurel Academy of Music / Academy Ford

 

Laurel certainly has no lack of automobile dealerships from which you may buy your next ride. Many of the businesses carry dealership names that reflect the company owner/founder’s name… Ourisman, Tischer, Fred Frederick (Day 69 Photo on 6/11 www.flickr.com/photos/sixstring563/27511438242/in/album-7...). But one Laurel Car Dealership has a name with roots that trace back almost 140 years.

 

In 1879, just 9 years after the town’s incorporation, the Laurel Academy of Music was built along Route 1 on the northeast corner of the intersection with Prince George Street. (about ½ block north of where Laurel Wreath Lodge # 149 of the Free Masons completed in 1895 still stands today). During this period Laurel was an economic and cultural center for the surrounding area that remained largely rural. For the next 38 years the Laurel Academy of Music hosted everything from concerts, Vaudeville shows, to Laurel High School graduation ceremonies. The building was converted to a movie theatre in 1915, with a parking garage on the lower floor of the wood structure; it burned in 1917. Years later in 1962, the location would become the home of the original Academy Ford dealership at 119-127 Washington Blvd.

 

In the early 1960’s Tom Lynch a Ford Motor Company wholesaler partnered with Bob Bell, another Ford Employee to found Academy Ford in 1962 on the former site of the Laurel Academy of Music. According to Consumer Guide Automotive, Ford Fairline models introduced in 1962 cost $2,200 to 2,400. In 1964, Academy Ford advertised a 1963 Galaxie 500 sports coupe for $2,295 and a 1964 convertible for $2,349, with $149 down. Current Academy Ford Vice President Mike Lynch (Tom’s Son) said that Galaxies, Falcons and Thunderbirds were the hot sellers until the 1964 Mustang "came around" a few years before he was born. His dad's dealership, he said, was the first in the area to sell Mustangs.

 

In 1970 just prior to the completion of I95, Academy Ford relocated to their current location in the Laurel “burbs” at 13401 Baltimore Ave just south of where Contee Rd and Route 1 meet. Souder Builders, of Clarksville, built the original facility at the new location. The building underwent an extensive renovation in 1997 to bring it to its current appearance. Bob Bell and Tom Lynch split in 1982 when Bell became the sole proprietor of Bob Bell Ford in Glen Burnie and Lynch assumed total ownership of the Academy Ford dealership.

 

Both elder and younger Lynch families continue to live in the area near the Rocky Gorge Reservoir. Active in the Laurel community and fixtures of the Main Street festival, both men are proud that today Academy Ford is a multi-generational family business that has grown from humble beginnings in 1962. The dealership continues to serve the needs of loyal Ford customers and the Laurel community as it has done for over 50 years. During a sticker check while taking today’s photo… a very nice, brand new F250 can be yours for the low low price of $42,000.

 

 

Program Academy of Music Concert , St. Phillip's Choir, 5/31/1892

 

laurelhistoricalsociety.pastperfectonline.com/archive/C1B...

 

 

Program for Vaudeville Entertainment at Academy of Music, 2/24/1903

 

laurelhistoricalsociety.pastperfectonline.com/archive/2B1...

 

 

Undated Photo of the Academy of Music

 

laurelhistoricalsociety.pastperfectonline.com/photo/A3AA3...

 

 

1911 Post Card of the Academy of Music

 

laurelhistoricalsociety.pastperfectonline.com/photo/0E80D...

 

 

Hoffman Garage buys Cylinder part from Academy Ford on 7/28/1965

 

laurelhistoricalsociety.pastperfectonline.com/archive/EF9...

 

 

1965 Photo of Academy Ford Dealership in Laurel

 

pictures.dealer.com/a/academyfordfd/1935/ff15592d0588716c...

 

 

Academy Ford History

 

www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/laurel/ph-ll-ac...

 

 

Done