Despite the cold, a large crowd gathered on the Circle the morning of Thursday, January 7, 1869 to witness the first public test of the velocipede, a two-wheel pedaled vehicle, that the hatter, John C. McIver, had brought to Indianapolis the preceding month. Believing that he had learned “to manage ‘the critter,’” McIver slowly went around the Circle sidewalk having “a great deal more trouble to keep the thing from falling down.” Optician Lucius W. Moses followed, and quickly traversed the distance, but attorney George Carter “developed the capabilities of the vehicle swinging around the Circle in one minute,” and then “propelled the thing around town all morning, much to the delight and astonishment,” of onlookers.
The demonstration was a success and created an immediate demand for the novel vehicle. Carriage builders Shaw & Lippincott began turning out the first velocipedes in the city and within a month a Velocipede Riding Hall opened at 26-28 S. Tennessee St. (Capitol Ave.) with a “skillful instructor” guiding the novice cyclists “in the art of taming wild and vicious velocipedes” for an admission fee of 25ȼ (2021: $5) for adults, and 10ȼ for children under 12. The “velocipede mania” had spawned nearly 5,000 learners within a few weeks and the Indianapolis Velocipede Club issued a challenge to the Richmond, Indiana club for a race at Camp Morton Fair Grounds.
The velocipede mania lasted about one year. The two-wheeled vehicle then became a common feature on the streets and sidewalks of Indianapolis, quickly transitioning from recreational use to commercial use with businesses using the velocipede to deliver packages. Some postal letter carriers and a doctor or two even made their rounds on the cycle. Accidents and other incidents occurring between careless riders and pedestrians eventually led the Indianapolis city council to ban velocipede riding on sidewalks within the city limits. The serious velocipedists continued to ride the streets.
Over time terminology changed and “bicycle” became preferred over velocipede. This change of name coincided with the use of India rubber tires instead of steel, enabling the rider to travel over rough and sandy roads and go up hill. By the Christmas season of 1879 shoppers could find the latest Columbia Bicycle, the first cycle made in America, through an agent at 146 S. Pennsylvania. The following June, the Indianapolis Bicycle Club sponsored a state tournament at the State Fair Grounds, “witnessed by about five hundred ladies and gentlemen, who showed considerable enthusiasm at the termination of the races.” The popularity of cycling continued to grow and in the fall of 1884 the Indiana Division of the League of American Wheelmen (L.A.W.) was organized with a bicycle tournament held in 1885 featuring the Irish champion cyclist William M. Woodside who won the professional ten-mile and two-mile races. An annual tour of the state by the Indiana L.A.W. “dressed in bicycle suits…presented a very picturesque appearance” in the ensuing years. In addition to promoting the general interests of cycling and defending and protecting the rights of wheelmen, the L.A.W. sought to secure improvement in the condition of the public roads and highways with the motto, “The depth of the mud affects the price of bread.” By 1900, Indianapolis had over 100 miles of well-paved streets which made the city “one of the most delightful cycling centers in the country.” The league also, through subscriptions by cyclists and other interested parties, funded toll-free side paths such as the one from Indianapolis to Irvington, and continuing to Greenfield. A subscriber at 50 cents (2021: $17) or more was given a button.
Locally, accessibility to bicycles was made easier in 1888 when the Indiana Bicycle Manufacturing Co. began making bicycles, like its Waverly, based on the safety bicycle design by English inventor John Kemp Starley. With the wheels of “like size and the rider sitting within easy reach of the ground,” the safety bicycle diamond frame and chain drive set the standard form of the modern bicycle. Demand for this new set of wheels launched a cycle craze that would make the 1890s the Golden Decade of Bicycles. At least nine bicycle factories were located in Indianapolis in the mid-‘90s employing 1,454 men, women, and boys, and to keep the new pneumatic bicycle tire inflated the H. T. Hearsey Cycle Co. installed the city’s first foot pump near the street just inside the store at 16 N. Pennsylvania St. To accommodate the surge of riders, over 100 bicycle clubs were formed, the first being the Zigzag Bicycle Club with a large and varied membership. Later, clubs had restricted memberships. Among them were, the Indianapolis Wheelmen, the Indianapolis Lawyers’ Bicycle Club, the retail clerks New York Store Bicycle Club, and the Waverly Club which was composed of society ladies with non-voting men as associate members. In segregated Indianapolis, African Americans organized the Booker T. Washington Bicycle Club.
The clubs had their favorite “runs,” west to Danville and back, east to Greenfield and back, and north to Noblesville and back. Eventually, the sunrise to sunset “century run,” a 100-mile round trip became popular, with a run between Indianapolis and Columbus, over excellent roads a favorite. Cyclists completing the run earned the right to wear the medal offered by the Century Club; repeat riders received a new bar or two to hang on the medal.
With the coming of automobiles and motorbikes, bicycle riding as a sport began to wane. A few clubs tried to revive cycle competitions including the Irvington Cycle Club. Organized in June 1914, the Irvington club came into prominence during years of the Great Depression when several of its members embarked on “century bike rides.” A distinctive Red Lion patch was awarded club members who had completed five “centuries.” The club’s five-member competition team, the Red Lion Racing Team, brought additional recognition to the Irvington Cycle Club when three of its members, Bruce Burgess, James Tolle, and Robert Unversaw, became Indiana state bicycle racing champions. Beginning in 1937, the club sponsored the Clarence Wagner Memorial Race in honor of the Terre Haute native who was a national champion cyclist. The course, laid out over Irvington and Warren Township streets, was sanctioned by the Amateur Bicycle League of America and saw top Midwest amateur cyclists competing in an event that drew several thousand spectators. World War II brought an end to the race and organized cycle sports in general.
For most of the post-war years, bicycling was the pastime of teenagers biding their time until they became sixteen and got their driver’s license. The Edgewood Wheelman Bicycle Club kept the “century run” alive from the late 1950s into the ‘60s while the Speedway Bicycle Club sponsored a 100-mile national bicycle race during the same period. A cycling revival began in 1965 when the Central Indiana Bicycling Association (CIBA) was formed to encourage bicycling for touring, exercising, and commuting. Today cyclist enjoy various Greenway bicycle trails along with the Monon, the Central Canal Towpath, and the Pennsy Trails.
