Most everyone has fond childhood memories of learning to ride a bicycle for the first time. As a native of Henry County some of my fondest memories involve taking long bike rides with my family through the county’s beautiful country side or cruising the small towns of Spiceland, Cadiz, Greensboro, and Knightstown with my friends. Many have shared these common experiences since the first bicycles made their way to this Indiana county in the late 1870s. Yet the first bicycles were strange looking machines easily recognized by the large front wheel (often 5ft. in diameter). Brought over from England during the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the English high-wheeler or “ordinary” had tension spokes, hard rubber tires, and were not chain driven so the pedals were directly driving the large front wheel with the rider perched on top. These early high-wheelers were expensive and difficult to ride, thus were rode primarily by young gentlemen from the more affluent families. A wonderful photograph, ca.1885, from the HCHS library collection aptly demonstrates this by showing George Washington Goodwin surrounded by his large, and soon to be successful, family at the old Murphey-Goodwin place that once set on the northeast corner of Main Street and Indiana Avenue, New Castle. Miles Goodwin is shown standing proudly by his “wheel” that he used for racing at the local fairs. John C. (small boy to the left of Miles) became the driving force behind Goodwin Brothers auto sales, which is the oldest auto dealership in the state. Also pictured are the Goodwin sisters- Helen and Frances (in dark dresses behind Miles)- who both became well known as fine artists and Richard (standing to the far left with wife & child) who owned and operated Goodwin’s Clothing Store downtown for many years.
During the last quarter of the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth it was very popular for Americans to organize themselves into clubs, lodges, associations, etc. whether for political, intellectual, religious, or social reasons. And with the bicycle phenomenon, later to be named the “Bicycle Craze,” it was no different. Bicycle clubs soon started to organize all across the country beginning in 1880 with the League of American Wheelmen (LAW) that formed as the national organization supporting, promoting and furthering all things connected with bicycling. The Knightstown Cycle Club and the New Castle Wheelmen were formed as members of the Indiana Wheelmen, the state level organization. The best story we have of these local clubs in Henry County comes from the July 16th, 1886 edition of “Bicycle News” (a reoccurring column in The New Castle Courier) recounting the events of the past weekend. Fifty Indiana Wheelmen, joined by several riders from the local club on the first stop of the annual tour of the state, which began in Rushville, arrived to participate in a circus parade around the city and out to the fairgrounds south of town before spending the night at the Bundy Hotel, which was located at the corner of South Main and Race Streets. The article stressed that the wheelmen were of “quite as much interest and by quite as large a crowd as was the circus parade.” Also mentioned are several of the local “heroes” in the touring company who by their riding skills and exhibitions had won a certain level of notoriety throughout Indiana. A twenty mile race to Pendleton slated for Saturday morning was regrettably canceled because the roads were in such poor condition on account of a downpour Friday evening.
Also in the 1880s, the Knightstown Fair -as well as other fairs in the county, began holding bicycle races along with the ever popular horse races. First the riders used high-wheelers but later switched to the “safety” after it became the standard style after 1885. (Miles Goodwin was listed as one of these early contestants.) Race accounts in the local Henry County newspapers frequently recounted a racer losing a race because of a “header” -having been launched over his handlebars after hitting a rut or bump in the dirt road. Reportedly, falling from a high-wheeler was nearly as bad as being thrown from a horse.
Races were not always confined to the tracks at the fairgrounds. New Castle police records from this era are littered with “scorching” violations just as the police records of today are with speeding tickets. “Scorching” was the term used to describe speeding a bicycle down one of the main streets of town. Another early contest popular with Henry County’s bicyclists was the “coasting contest.” On Broad Street, riders would pedal from Main to 12th Street, take their feet off the pedals and see who could coast for the longest distance down the West Broad Street hill. Just to keep the bicycle upright at such a high speed with the poor condition of the dirt streets was said to have been quite a feat.
In 1885 a bicycle more recognizable to our eyes was unveiled, called the “safety.” Its chain-driven equal-sized wheels of a much smaller size opened the sport to everyone. Much safer and easier to operate, with an affordable price tag, this model made bicycles fun for both women and children. Pneumatic or air-filled tires came soon after bringing the craze to its peak in the 1890’s. And it was the “safety” style bicycle that was manufactured from 1895-1900 in New Castle by The Speeder Cycle Company. The 18,000 square-foot building was located on South 14th Street (then called Lewisville Pike). In 1900 it was sold to James McQuinn who moved the Hoosier Kitchen Manufacturing Company from Albany, Indiana, after a fire had destroyed the factory there. James and his son Emmitt did quite well in the kitchen cabinet business becoming the nation’s leading producers for nearly 40 years.
Many of the men who were involved with producing and selling bicycles during this period also became instrumental in the next big transportation revolution, the automobile. One of these men was a well-known local gentleman by the name of Joseph Newby. Newby, who became instrumental in the sale of the Maxwell automobile from his United Motor New Castle Company (later becoming Newby-Paul after his retirement), began selling bicycles from his hardware store in Kennard in the late 1890s. He recognized the great potential of this new form of transportation and opened a business in downtown New Castle to sell bicycles in what would now be classified as a sporting goods store located in the Knights of Pythias building. Bicycles were soon replaced by the early automobiles or “horseless carriages,” and for the next 25 years, like the Goodwin Brothers, Newby became synonymous with automobile sales in east central Indiana. But it all started with the bicycle.
Another famous Henry County native, best known for his involvement with aeroplanes, was building and repairing bicycles during this era and was also an avid member of the Wheelmen. Wilbur Wright, and his brother Orville, started the Wright Cycle Company, which operated at six different locations in Dayton, Ohio, from 1892 to 1908. Their innovative work with bicycles ultimately aided them in the construction of the 1903 Wright Flyer heavier-than-air machine that made history at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
Although I have traded in my old Huffy dirt bike for a mountain bike to ride the challenging trails at Westwood and Summit Lake, the bicycle still plays an important role in my life. And this seems to be true throughout Henry County and around the nation that bicycles are being used more and more today as a good form of exercise and an environmentally friendly and inexpensive mode of transportation. But never will we be able to comprehend the great utility the bicycle once brought to our ancestors in the time before America became a society of the automobile. The bicycle represented a new freedom of movement never before experienced by Americans. It was a fun and convenient way to travel to work, to church and the local theater, to do the shopping, or just explore the countryside. The Henry County Historical Society has photographs ranging from the 1880s onward showing the countless ways in which bicycles were employed; from firemen to postmen rode them to and for work, factories and movie theaters have them lined up outside, at railroad depots, delivery boys, and people of all ages even posed on them at local professional photography studios. The end of the nineteenth century was labeled the Bicycle Craze for good reason.
-Benjamin J. Badgley
For more information on the role bicycles played in Henry County or other local history questions please visit the HCHS Wed-Sat 1-4:30pm