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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that cycles through history one day at a time.

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Speaker 1: I'm Gay Bluesier and in this episode, we're exploring the

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Speaker 1: early days of the bicycle, including how a group of

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Speaker 1: early adopters helped promote recreational cycling and helped improve American

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Speaker 1: roads in the process. The day was May thirty one,

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Speaker 1: eighteen eighty cycling fans from across the US gathered to

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Speaker 1: establish the League of American Wheelman, the first national organization

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Speaker 1: dedicated to the bicycle. The meeting was convened by Colonel

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Speaker 1: Albert Pope, a former Civil War officer and one of

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Speaker 1: the biggest bicy sical manufacturers in the country. Pope knew

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Speaker 1: that gathering thirty one cycling clubs in one place would

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Speaker 1: be a great way to advertise his business, but he

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Speaker 1: was also a bicycle riding enthusiast or wheelmen himself. He

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Speaker 1: wanted the newly discovered sport to thrive on American shores,

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Speaker 1: but to make that happen, he would need plenty of help.

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Speaker 1: Early versions of the bicycle first made their way to

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Speaker 1: the United States from Europe in the early nineteenth century. However,

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Speaker 1: they didn't function like the bikes we know today. Some models,

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Speaker 1: known as dandy horses didn't even have pedals. Instead, riders

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Speaker 1: would propel themselves simply by kicking off the ground with

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Speaker 1: their feet, like you would on a scooter. Aside from

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Speaker 1: the lack of pedals, though, the design looked pretty close

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Speaker 1: to modern bikes, with two in line wheels, a seat,

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Speaker 1: and a pair of handlebars. One notable exception was the

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Speaker 1: Penny Farthing, the first machine to actually be called a bicycle.

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Speaker 1: This iconic English import had two wheels, but they were

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Speaker 1: drastically different sizes. The front wheel was fifty four inches

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Speaker 1: in diameter, while the rear wheel was less than half

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Speaker 1: that size. This high mount bicycle may look ridiculous and

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Speaker 1: impractical today, but it's large front wheel was hailed at

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Speaker 1: the time due to the faster speeds and smoother ride

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Speaker 1: it provided see The Penny Farthing was also what's called

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Speaker 1: a direct drive bicycle, meaning that it did have cranks

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Speaker 1: and pedals, but they were fixed directly to the hub

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Speaker 1: instead of to a gear in chain. In this setup,

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Speaker 1: one rotation of the pedal resulted in one rotation of

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Speaker 1: the wheel and Since the penny farthing had such a

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Speaker 1: large front wheel, its rider could cover a greater distance

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Speaker 1: with less effort than if he had two smaller wheels.

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Speaker 1: So far from being a novelty, the Victorian bicycle with

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Speaker 1: the in front wheel was actually the ride of choice

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Speaker 1: for any serious wheelman. In fact, the advantages of the

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Speaker 1: high wheel bicycle or what gave rise to cycling as

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Speaker 1: a support. By the eighteen seventies, bicycle clubs had begun

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Speaker 1: to form in cities across the country, but not everyone

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Speaker 1: shared their enthusiasm. As a relatively new mode of transportation.

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Speaker 1: Bicycles were still viewed with suspicion or even outright disdain

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Speaker 1: by much of the horse riding public. Some local governments

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Speaker 1: even imposed restrictions or bands on bicycle use in public places.

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Speaker 1: Alarmed by this development, Albert Pope used his resources to

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Speaker 1: advocate for the bicycle wherever he could. He paid the

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Speaker 1: legal fees of cyclists who dared to defy the bike bands,

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Speaker 1: and he helped establish the Massachusetts Bicycle Club in his

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Speaker 1: hometown of Boston. But as the new sport continued to

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Speaker 1: come under fire, Pope recognized there would be greater length

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Speaker 1: and numbers, and so On May thirty one, eighteen eighty,

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Speaker 1: Albert Pope called a meeting in Newport, Rhode Island. There

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Speaker 1: he proposed joining forces with fellow cyclists like Kirkmanroe and

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Speaker 1: Charles E. Pratt, and together they formed the League of

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Speaker 1: American Wheelmen, a national membership organization devoted to the promotion

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Speaker 1: of cycling. Split into state chapters, the League's members set

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Speaker 1: to work promoting bicycle touring and their local communities. However,

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Speaker 1: the barriers to entry for the sport were still as

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Speaker 1: high as the front wheel of the bicycle Penny Farthing.

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Speaker 1: Bikes were not only expensive, they also required a good

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Speaker 1: deal of strength, balance, and stamina to operate. Luckily, before

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Speaker 1: the decade was over, technical advances would open bicycle ownership

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Speaker 1: to just about everyone, including for the first time women.

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Speaker 1: In the late eighteen eighties, low mount bicycles with smaller,

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Speaker 1: equally sized wheels, chain drive gears, and pneumatic tires finally

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Speaker 1: began to hit the market. This new model was dubbed

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Speaker 1: the Safety Bicycle, and thanks to mass production, it could

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Speaker 1: be sold at the relatively affordable price of seventy five dollars.

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Speaker 1: Within just two years of the bike's debut, the number

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Speaker 1: of cyclists in the United States doubled from about seventy

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Speaker 1: five thousand to over a hundred and fifty thousand. But

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Speaker 1: even with better bikes and a steadily growing membership, the

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Speaker 1: wheelmen of the era still had a big problem to

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Speaker 1: contend with. America's roads, pretty much everywhere, were terrible. Country

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Speaker 1: roads in the US were especially awful in the eight nineties. Unpaved, uneven,

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Speaker 1: littered with holes, and easily turned to mud in bad weather.

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Speaker 1: As one New York Times article put it, the dirt

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Speaker 1: country roads were quote a marsh in spring, a sahara

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Speaker 1: in summer, frozen stiff in later autumn, and a swamp

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Speaker 1: whenever there is a thaw in winter. And the nation's

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Speaker 1: urban roads weren't much better. They were often covered with

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Speaker 1: wooden planks, which made for a smoother ride, but we're

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Speaker 1: still a far cry from pavement. Cyclists would sometimes pull

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Speaker 1: onto the sidewalk just to get a break from the

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Speaker 1: uneven terrain, and this inevitably led to accidents. Pretty soon,

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Speaker 1: pedestrians were being knocked over left and right, leading some

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Speaker 1: people to complain that bikes should be banned all together. However,

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Speaker 1: the League of American Wheelmen had a different idea. The

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Speaker 1: group began advocating for the construction of paved roads throughout

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Speaker 1: the country, but especially in rural areas where the upkeep

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Speaker 1: of inner city roads had become a burden on town residents.

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Speaker 1: More than a hundred thousand cyclists joined the League during

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Speaker 1: this time, and due to the success of their grassroot efforts,

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Speaker 1: Congress established the Office of Road Inquiry in three This

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Speaker 1: office and the Department of Agriculture was tasked with spreading

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Speaker 1: information on good road engineering and with building short segments

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Speaker 1: of roads and key cities as a way to bolster

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Speaker 1: local interest in road construction. Through this effort, the nation

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Speaker 1: got its first state funded paved roads in eight and

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Speaker 1: then just a few decades later, Congress finally authorized an

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Speaker 1: entire national network of quality roads. In that sense, it

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Speaker 1: really is no stretch to say that the early work

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Speaker 1: of the League of American Wheelmen paved the way for

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Speaker 1: the National Highway system. And yeah, by that point, the

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Speaker 1: paved roads were intended more for cars than bicycles. Today,

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Speaker 1: who wins a win. I'm Gay Louisier, and hopefully you

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Speaker 1: now know a little more about history today than you

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Speaker 1: did yesterday. If you'd like to keep up with the show,

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Speaker 1: you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at

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Speaker 1: t d i HC Show, and if you have any

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Speaker 1: comments or suggestions, feel free to send them my way

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Speaker 1: at this Day at I heart media dot com. Thanks

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Speaker 1: to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thanks to

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Speaker 1: you for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow

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Speaker 1: for another day in History class