In mid-April 1869, a short note in the Helena Weekly Clarion announced that "the velocipede fever has at length reached our quiet city..."
Locals were no doubt relieved to learn this fever referred to the rapidly growing bicycle fad. The velocipede, also known as the dandy horse, was an early step toward the modern bicycle. Over the next three decades many Arkansans -- but not all -- eagerly engaged in every aspect of the national infatuation with the bicycle.
The history of the early development of the bicycle is clouded by competing patents, nationalistic pride and a lack of documentation. However, undoubtedly the French played a leading role in developing human-powered vehicles.
In 1790, Frenchman Comte Mede de Sivrac invented a bicycle precursor called the celerifere, but it was doomed by its difficult steering. In 1818, a German named Karl Drais von Sauerbronn developed an improved machine called the laufmaschine (running machine). The Drais machine had a steering device, two wheels, and was made entirely of wood. The French later renamed the Drais machine, giving it the Latin name velocipede, which would become the popular name for all bicycle-like inventions prior to about 1900.
Like all the early prototypes, the laufmaschine had no pedals. Thus a rider pushed himself and the machine forward with his feet, gliding when terrain allowed. Both the British and the French claim to being first to add pedals to a velocipede, but it was a Frenchman named Ernest Michaux who, in 1868, began commercial production of velocipedes with pedals.
The bicycle seems to have made its appearance in Arkansas on the evening of Jan. 9, 1869. The Arkansas Gazette, which had earlier published information and descriptions of velocipedes, reported that "a large number of visitors were in attendance to see the novelty."
Due to the poor condition of unpaved streets and a lack of time to practice, the demonstration was not particularly impressive. Nevertheless, the newspaper reported "... our friend [W.W.] Rottaken [a liquor dealer and later sheriff] made a very successful attempt, much to the gratification and amusement of all ..."
The reporter had fun with the story, concluding with a prediction that "there is no reason why Little Rock should be behind Paris in a velocipedal way."
Cycling -- or wheeling as it was often known -- grew rapidly in popularity during the three decades following the Civil War. An even more robust cycling business developed in Europe, with bicycling remaining a common mode of transportation in Britain to this day.
Attaching pedals directly to the axle of the front wheel had its limitations, including difficulty steering while pedaling. Speed was limited by the relatively small size of the front wheel. Thus, designers in both Europe and America steadily increased the size of the front wheel, ultimately reaching the ridiculous height of 60 inches, meaning that riders were sitting five feet above the ground.
Riding at such heights and relatively fast speeds resulted in high accident rates. Cyclists -- sometimes called "wheelmen" -- especially dreaded the header, an accident in which the rider was thrown head-first over the handles. The rides were also incredibly uncomfortable, with the seat often being too small, and the lack of pneumatic tires before 1888 made for rough travel.
The 1880s and '90s saw rapid growth in bicycling in Arkansas and most other states. Bicycle clubs were formed in many Arkansas cities including Fort Smith, Pine Bluff, Hot Springs and Little Rock, where residents could choose between the Ideal Bicycle Club or the Arkansas Travelers Bicycle Club. A bicycle factory, Conagel Wheel Works, began operations in Little Rock in 1886.
The bicycle clubs sponsored frequent competitions. A bicycle track at West End Park in Little Rock was wired with electrical lights, allowing for night races. In Fort Smith, a 2,400-foot bicycle track opened in May 1897 at the city's Electric Park, which one local newspaper predicted would be well received by "all lovers of the wheel."
Perhaps the most famous race of the high-wheel bicycle era occurred in August 1886, when 2,000 eager fans turned out at West End Park to see W.A. McCartney of Texarkana defeat Little Rock's R.D. Apperson in a one-mile competition. The race, part of a longer bicycle tournament and promotional event, got off to a delayed start when a local man accused the organizers with sabbath breaking. Then downpours delayed the start.
The event began with "a parade of uniformed wheelmen down Main Street, with large crowds lining each side." A five-mile race featured four riders, with the winner coming in at 18 minutes and 26 seconds. A quarter-mile dash, for boys under 15, resulted in the only injury of the tournament when Durant Whipple, the son of soon-to-be mayor William G. Whipple, "was precipitated headforemost to the ground, where he lay in a stunned condition" until help arrived.
Bicycle shops opened around the state as time passed. At first bicycles were sold in hardware stores, but soon cycle houses were offering national and international brands. Wolf and Prather Cycle Co. of Little Rock were exclusive agents for the popular Stearns Bicycle. The Arkansas Cycle House on Main Street in Little Rock was perhaps the largest and long-lived, beginning in 1890 and surviving until the Great Depression. By 1921, the Cycle House offered a huge array of bicycles from five different makers.
The bicycle was not welcomed by everyone. Little Rock residents complained about bicyclists riding on sidewalks and cycling at night without lights. Fort Smith passed an ordinance regulating bicycle use. According to a letter to the editor in 1900, the new law was not being enforced and had failed to "eradicate the wholesale nuisances the wheelmen of the city had become."
Due to their long dresses, women were not able to use the early bicycles, especially the high wheel types. However, after the safety bicycle -- which featured two wheels of similar size -- replaced the earlier models, women and girls began to join the bicycle craze. This development was not welcomed by everyone.
Historian Harvey Green has summarized the opposition to female biking: "Wheeling's many critics were certain that bicycle riding threatened women's health, morals, and reputation."
In 1896 an elderly Little Rock physician named Dr. C.E. Nash published a strange little book titled Historical and Humorous Sketches of the Donkey, Horse and Bicycle, in which the reader is treated to a comic but pointed attack on the growing number of women and girls who ride bicycles.
At one point Nash blames the female biking fad on "the new woman of New York." He assured the reader that things were different in the South: "...we of the south try to keep up the old line, preferring to keep up our modesty ... we have sufficient common sense to know what is indecent and vulgar. But the new woman has concluded to split the difference by riding astride."
In another case, Dr. Nash has a character attack the immodesty of women bicyclists: "... I have seen the most modest of them on a windy day have their petticoats hoisted above the line of demarcation between the upper and lower extremities without producing a blush, much less a faint."
Tom Dillard is a historian and retired archivist living near Glen Rose in rural Hot Spring County. Email him at Arktopia.td@gmail.com.
NAN Profiles on 01/19/2020