Stamford Historical Society Photo Archives
A Bicycle Club of High-wheel Wheelmen?
Unfortunately, there is no information with the photo, but most likely it dates back to the 1880s.
High-wheel bicycles were very expensive, see link at right.
The strange contraption at right is a tricycle. According to David Herlihy, an expert on the bicycle, high-wheel tricycles were considered an alternative to the dangerous high mount, but were even more expensive than the high-wheel bicycle.
The Eagle Bicycle Company, organized in 1883 on lower Atlantic Street, built a safety bicycle in Stamford. The company’s founder, Leonard B. Gaylor (see club listing below), patented a high-wheel bicycle of an improved design which added a handbrake and placed the small wheel in the front and the large wheel in back, rather than the front, in order to give the rider better balance. However, the â€wheelmen†in the photos shown here display bicycles with the big wheel in front.
We found this one-page document – of an unknown date – which may represent the same group of people:
| The Stamford Wheel Club Organized 10 January, 1884 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Officers | Members | |
| President Vice President Secretary-Treasurer Captain 1st. Lieutenant 2nd. Lieutenant Bugler Color-bearer |
E.S. Walsh L.B. Gaylor G.S. Benedict N.R. Jessup William A. Clark Joseph P. Blackett Frank W. Jerman Edward Jerman |
E.S. Friez Thomas F.P. Paradise Charles E. Gaylor Frank Miller George W. Southwick Frederick C. Parsons William N. Travis George C. Kirk Frank Pinney Charles Miller William A. Hurlbutt Herbert Weed Edward Rogers S. Bernhard Arthur Munson Thomas Cummings George A. McIntyre Theodore V. Ketcham Walter Daskam Warren Ferris |
| Lady Riders | ||
| Mrs. Hort* Mrs. Jessup Mrs. H.S. McConkey Miss Clark*Editor’s note: this may be “Hoyt†|
||
The photo below is labeled “Wheel Club members in front of Wilbur Lewis’ drugstore, c. 1882†The uniforms are very similar to the ones in the group photo above. The date given is doubtful, considering the above organizing chart.
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