Springtime and the current enthusiasm for bicycling (pedal powered) reminds the historical minded that it was in the 1890’s that the bicycle as a means of transportation was at its height.
The ability to move at a 15 mile per hour speed was heady. In fact, nearly ninety years ago the faster set was already well organized into the Stevens Point Cycle Club, had built bicycle paths over much of the county, arranged race tracks, and made long trips going as far east as Pennsylvania. A year later (1893) the Wheelsmen Club drew up its constitution and held its first meeting at the Rink Opera House (popular place of entertainment on Strongs Avenue, pre-dating the present Fox Theatre Opera House on Main Street), adopting a cycling uniform of blue knee pants and cap, black stockings and belt and a light colored shirt.
The first officers of the Wheelsmen Club were:
L. R. Anderson, President
John Rothman, Vice President
J. W. Holt, Secretary
J. R. Congdon, Treasurer
W. L. Bronson, Captain
H.C. Craig, Lieutenant
The following is list of other charter members:
Bosworth, F.E.
Butterfield, R.H.
Cain, G.B.
Culver, A.J.
Dillie, F.L.
Ellertsen, J.C.
Ellis, John F.
Ennor, T.C.
Gerhart, Geo.
Jones, C.L.
King, F.Y.
McDonald, W.S.
Michael, J.
Mueller, W.C.
Murray, F.H.
Schuweiler, N.
Sherwin, G.C.
Sizer, D.A.
Slender, G.A.
Smith, Dr. Jesse
Spaulding, H.E.
Strope, H.W.
Stumpf, E.O.
Sustins, F.A.
Sweetman, G.L.
Vaillancourt, C.L.
Virum, O.E.
Week, A.R.
Welty, H.C
Alex Wallace commented (“Stevens Point “Through the Years,” chapter 276, Stevens Point Daily Journal, Feb., 10, 1945) on the bicycle craze, noting that “unless one has passed through those frenzied bicycle days one cannot imagine the part that the bicycle played 61 years ago. Bicycle paths were built all over our county and many through the4state. Bicycle races were held all over the country. The bicycle had come, giving man the opportunity to travel faster than he had ever traveled before, except by train. The bicycle brought the pneumatic tire, the chain drive and later on the shaft drive, those inventions paving the way for making possible the automobile that followed.”
On the Wheelsmen Club, Alex Wallace noted further (“Stevens Point Through the Years”, chapter 306, Stevens Point Daily Journal, March 17, 1945):
June 1, 1895. W. O. Lamoreaux and H.C. Welty returned Tuesday morning over the Central from a trip to Milwaukee on their bikes. They left for the Cream City last Saturday morning at 4:20 a.m., arriving at Ripon that evening. The next morning they proceeded on their 160 mile ride, arriving at the Kirby House in Milwaukee at 4:00 p.m. The distance between Ripon and Milwaukee via Fond du Lac, which is 84 miles, was covered in less than eight hours. To make the record an exceptionally good one Harry added 16 miles by taking a run out to Whitefish Bay and on his return to Milwaukee had covered 100 miles in just nine hours actual riding time. This record entitled him to wear the century bar and is the first century record ever made by a Stevens Point wheel man.