NCPI Workmark
Articles in regional publications that pertain to a wide range of North Carolina-related topics.

Greenville's Bicycle Craze of the 1890s

Record #:
23390
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Abstract:
Bicycles began sweeping the nation in the 1890s and D. W. Winstead of Greenville purchased a “high-wheeler” in 1885. The Cycle Club in Greenville held a dress ball in December 1892. Regular bicycles appeared in Greenville by 1893. S.E. Pender & Co. began selling “Rambler” bicycles in 1894. Charlie Forbes, Clarence Whichard, Mr. Priddy, E.A. Moye, Jr., J.J. Cory, L.H. Pender, J.R. Moye, J.B. Cherry, Jr., W.H. Long, Ola Forbes, Gin Dupree, Zeb Highsmith, Walter Pender, Walter Mewborne, Claude Chapman, E. B. Higgs, E. O. McGowan, W. F. Morrill and Gus Hardee were Greenville citizens who owned bicycles in the 1890s. The Greenville wheelmen and the Town Council had a disagreement over roads and sidewalks in 1895. The Greenville Bicycle Club formed in May 1896. Greenville held a bicycle carnival in August 1897. In 1898, S. E. Pender & Co. erected a unique bicycle sign in front of their store with paper on the spokes that snapped when the wheels turned when the wind blew. In 1903, the Greenville Aldermen adopted a bicycle ordinance and in 1911, police chief, George A. Clark, made his rounds on a bicycle.
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