The first bicycle to ever make it into Washington Territory arrived on this day in 1879, according to History Link:
On November 14, 1879, the first bicycle ever seen in Washington Territory arrives in Seattle aboard a steamer from San Francisco via Portland.
Seattle Merchant William H. Pumphrey displayed the boy’s size two-wheeler in front of his store at 617 Front Street (later 1st Avenue). On November 18, 1879, Jules Lipsky bought the bicycle for his son.
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I almost feel bad for the Lipsky kid. It can’t be that fun being the only kid in town with a bicycle (also, there were no roads).
For more on early Seattle cycling, this MOHAI video from the spring is worth re-watching:
Comments
3 responses to “Seattle’s first bicycle”
While there weren’t roads in the sense of paved roads for cars, there were basic roads and paths for carriages/animals/people, etc. Claiming “no roads” kinda perpetuates the notion that we must thank cars for introducing us to the concept of roads.
We sometimes post old Seattle-related bike things, (that appeared in the Seattle Times) at http://classifiedhumanity.com/tagged/bicycle
I was referring to paved roads, the first of which were created for *drum roll* bicycling!
But it took more than one person with a bike to get those roads paved. Lake Washington Boulevard and Interlaken are two early ones.
If you’re into bicycle history and happen to find yourself in western Ohio, the Bicycle Museum of America is well worth checking out. They have a really amazing collection. http://www.bicyclemuseum.com/