CHRIS SWEETILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY2016 WHEELMAN ANNUAL MEET

ELMHURST, IL

Illinois Bicycle Manufacturing Before 1900

Illinois History Timeline

1818 Illinois admitted as a state to the Union

1837 Chicago incorporated as a city 1848 First Railroad and Telegraph in

Chicago 1866 April: Pierre Lallement files his U.S.

Patent for two-wheeler with cranks affixed to front hub.

1867-1869 Velocipede riding schools in Chicago and Bloomington

1868 U.S. Velocipede fad begins, velocipedes mentioned in Chicago Tribune

1870 Chicago population:  298,977. 1871 Great Chicago Fire 1872 First Montgomery Ward Catalog

Published 1879 (Sept. 1) Chicago Bicycle Club

founded, G+J begin production in Chicago

“One of the Novel Vehicles Introduced in this City”

Chicago Tribune August 26, 1868

First Rubber Tires?

“History tells us that it was the Rev. Mr. Edwards of Chicago who decided that he’d had enough of iron tires, and came up with the idea of substituting rubber for iron. He didn’t stop with that idea either, for it is definitely on record that he was first to ride a pedaled vehicle equipped with rubber tires...This was in 1868, and in 1869 commercially produced boneshakers began coming out with rubber tires, factory equipped.” (Palmer, Riding High, 1956, 58)

Loring and Keene Velocipede

“This velocipede is manufactured by Messrs Loring & Keene of Chicago Illinois and has become very popular in that city and throughout the West. It is a light machine somewhat similar to that of Pickering & Davis. The saddle is upon a spiral spring is not connected with the rear wheel and serves as a seat and brake...Its price is $130.(Goddard, 1869, p. 62)

Loring and Keene are listed as machinists in an 1869 city directory

Photo courtesy of Carey Williams

Loring and Keene

St. Nicholas Toy Company• Owsley Brothers and (later)

George Marble, owners• 1875 and 1876 bicycle,

velocipede patents issued to George Marble. (Western Toy Company)

• 1878 Catalog listed a 4-wheeled girl’s velocipede, boy’s 3 Wheeled Velocipede (Marble’s Patent Velocipede), youth and men’s transitional iron-spoked velocipedes between the older velocipedes and the new ordinaries. Front wheel sizes ranged from 38 to 48 inches.

1878 St. Nicholas Velocipede

St. Nicholas Toy Company

In 1879 they were granted a license to make children’s wheels by Pope Manufacturing after Pope had bought patent rights (Epperson, 43)

1880 City Directory under “Bicycles and Velocipedes”

Claimed to be oldest bicycle manufacturer in the country

Early velocipede racing and performing in Chicago.

Edith Shuler, 1869

“Championship of America”

First true American 6-day race, Exposition building, 1869

From Velocipedes to Ordinaries:Western Toy Company

Founded by German Immigrant Adolph Schoeninger

1866 Westerman & Schoeninger →Novelty Manufacturing Company → Western Toy Company → Western Wheel Works

1879 Granted a license from Pope mfg. to make children’s bicycles.  Then upgraded the license to make inexpensive adult bicycles with front wheels up to 50” in diameter.

1879 Largest front wheel was 42 inches.Sold for between $6.50-$20.00

Western Toy Company

1879 Otto

1887 Catalog Western Toy bicycles aremade under license from Pope Manufacturing

Rival 46”-54” $62-$72Otto 28-42” $12.50-$35

Pictured 1887-1891, 48” Rival

Gormully and Jeffery Timeline

1879 G+J begins production in Chicago (Porter, Wheels and Wheeling, p. 4)1880 Thomas B. Jeffrey received a license from Pope to make bicycles with front wheels up to 42”1884 Gormully & Jeffery Manufacturing Company appears in City Directory1884 Catalog: Ideal Bicycle, under license from Pope Mfg. (38-50”)1885 American Challenge1885-1889 American Safety1886 American Champion, American Ideal1887-1888 Patent and Licensing legal battles with Pope Manufacturing1887 Rambler Safety1900 Sold to American Bicycle Company

1887 G&J American Safety

1883 G&J Ideal

In the Gormully offices there was a portrait of Pope framed with his contract to sell Gormully and Jeffery’s “American Ideal” bicycle. At the top of the portrait someone had written: “our first agent.”

(Epperson, Peddling Bicycles to America, p. 49).

How Big was the Bike Boom of the 1890s in Illinois?

1890s There were 500 bicycle clubs in the U.S. (Chicago had 50 with 10,000 total members)

1896 “over 5000 men and women rode to work in downtown Chicago” (Epperson, 55)

In 1896, 100,000 people attended Chicago’s third annual bike show featuring 225 exhibitors” (Borzo, 32).

By 1897, it was estimated that 300,000 Chicagoans— 1 of every 5 Chicagoans — were riding bikes.

In 1898 the Fair Department Store was selling 1,000 bikes a day from its massive store on State Street. (Borzo, 32).

How Big was the Illinois Bicycle Industry during the Boom?

“Chicago is the bicycle center of the United States” Chicago Tribune, 1896

“Two-thirds of this country’s output of bicycles and accessories comes from within a radius of 150 miles around Chicago, and the bulk of the trade is handled in the city proper.” The Chicago Bicycle Directory, 1898.

1900 Census of Manufacturers lists 60 Illinois manufacturers whose principal product was bicycles.

Total product value of these Illinois manufacturers was nearly $9 million or 28% of the national total. This amount was far ahead of the next state.

“It is really is amazing how Chicago is coming to the front in the cycling trade. Already one of the most active centres of the industry in the United States, she seems destined to leave her competitors so far in the rear in the near future that they cannot even claim to be active competitors. New York and Boston of course will probably always be the centres of the importing business, but in the number and size of the manufactories already in existence and springing up all over the city, no one can touch Chicago.”“Passing Hour” Bicycling World and L.A.W. Bulletin. vol 25, Dec. 30, 1892, 272.

“By 1898, there were 316 large manufacturers (that produced at least 500 bicycles annually), and around 2,500 small manufacturers (that produced less than 500)”(Bicycling World, 27 May 1898:21).

The Chicago Bicycle Industry as Told by City Directories

Year “Bicycles” “Bicycle Repairers”

1890 13

1895 144 52

1900 300 123

1905 41 75

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1MGtDR8yz5Ia-XetXBy_fYegfa7TOZNnoO0Aq2_JeID0

Currently I have identified nearly 400 individual bicycle manufacturers from 1868-1915!

Western Wheel Works

Western Wheel Works (Crescent Bicycles) in Chicago was the largest bicycle manufacturer in America. The factories contain 25,000 square feet of floor space and employed one thousand men. No less than 25,000 safety bicycles were made and sold in 1891. 57,000 in 1895, 70,00 in 1896. (NYT, March 15, 1896)

Fifteen train cars, containing 3,6221896 Crescents, shipped to ourEastern Branch, March 12,1896.

1897 300 Crescents per day

Occupying one entire corner of the machine room stand the gang presses, and that our reader may understand why this term is used, we will say that they are operated in gangs of- four or six, as the work requires. These machines keep everlastingly at it, automatically drilling Crescent handle bar clamps, hubs, cranks, etc. For so important apart as they perform in the construction of the wheel, it is strange that they require so little attention; one man only being required for the working of one gang of, presses.

(1897 Crescent Catalog)

Schwinn

Founded in Chicago in 1895 by German immigrant Ignatz Schwinn

Most dominant and successful American manufacturer

Excelsior-Henderson motorcycles (1917-1931)

Success with kids bikes and racing bikes

Bankruptcy 1992, moved to Colorado 1993

The World Racer

Paint Shop in Schwinn Factory

Featherstone

Established 1871, Incorporated 1893.

1893 Catalog claims “We were the first to manufacture pneumatic tires for bicycles and fit them to wheels in America” Agreement with Dunlop, 1890.

1898 over 1000 employed, 60,000 bikes (1898 Catalog)

Factory covered ½ block. 5 stories tall. Machine shop had 50 lathes, 75 drill presses, 50 turret machines and 135 misc. 500 horse power Corliss Engine powered the plant.  Capacity of 500 bikes per day.

Old Hickory

1898 Old Hickory (Tonk Manufacturing)

Not just Chicago!

Illinois Mail Order Companies Shape the American Bicycle Industry

Illinois Mail Order and Department Stores shaped the American bicycle industry Rouse and Hazard Sears Montgomery Wards Marshall Fields Mead A.G. Spalding The original long tail economics, rise of Amazon

A.G. Spalding

In 1876, along with his brother, $800, and his reputation as a ballplayer, he opened a sporting-goods store in Chicago that eventually made him a millionaire and that still bears his name.

1883 Catalog cover lists A.G. Spalding as: Manufacturers, Importers and Dealers

Role in ABC monopoly

Montgomery Ward

1872 wholesale, mailorder company

Issued special bicycle catalogs during the 1890s

1900 Catalog: Hawthornes sold for $25 (including shipping). “We have sold at a low estimate 100,000 bicycles, and no house on earth has received so few complaints.”

Sears, Roebuck & Co.

Founded, Chicago, 1893By 1900 had overtaken

Montgomery Wards in salesSears gave an explanation for why

their bicycle prices were so low…Citing production control, large contracts, and the fact that their "business [was] not confined to Bicycles alone ... hence we do not have to look to the profits on bicycles alone to defray our expenses," they argued that quality was not sacrificed for the sake of price. (1898 Sears Roebuck Catalog)

In 1898 Richard Sears visited Ignatz Schwinn to negotiate a large order of bicycles. After settling on a price Sears ordered 50,000 bicycles. “Hadn’t you better make it 5,000, Mr. Sears?” “You just go ahead and make the bicycles...We’ll sell ‘em”-Asher, Frederick. “Richard Warren Sears: Icon of Inspiration” p. 12

“Last season we sold one-quarter of all the wheels made and sold in America. Our sales for 1901 were between 90,000 and 100,000 bicycles, while the estimated production and sales for this country was approximately 400,000. It will thus be seen that we practically control the bicycle situation, make the price, and for like quality undersell by far any and all competition.” (1902 Catalog)

Peoria Bicycle Manufacturing

• In the 1890s Peoria was the second largest city in Illinois. According to the 1900 census there were 89,000 people living in Peoria.

• Like Chicago, Peoria’s geographical proximity to rivers and railroads let to it becoming a major manufacturing center.

• During the 1890’s there were 5 large bicycle manufacturers in Peoria• Luthy• Peoria Rubber and Manufacturing• Patee Bicycles• Ide• Rouse and Hazard

Luthy Bicycles• Founded in 1887 as a

manufacturer and distributor of carriages and agricultural implements

• Made bicycles 1894-1900• Employed 25-30 and

produced 1000-2000 bicycles

• 1899 catalog claimed 35-40 World and American Records (Every mile between 4-26 on an unpaced tandem!)

• Were exported and sold in France by Felix, Fournier & Knopf

Luthy Tandem

Ide “High Art” Bicycles• Founded by Ferdinand F. Ide- a former watch maker and

machinist• 1893-1899• Employed 300, made up to 3,000 bicycles annually• Multiple patents including elliptical cranks and frame lap

brazing reinforcement

Peoria Riverfront Museum / Marty Potts

1894 Elliptical Spring Crank Patent

• Under pressure the crank straightens out and provides more leverage.

• Claimed 12.5% increase in power

• “will not transmit any perceptible jar to the rider” (Patent application)

• “In every hill climbing contest that we have knowledge of, where our machines were used, riders of them took every prize.” (1895 Ide Catalog)

Rouse, Hazard & Co.

• 1864 Established as agricultural implement wholesaler / distributor

• 1879 Bicycle department established• Initially a wholesaler, distributor, and

importer• One of the oldest and largest wholesalers in

the country (before Montgomery Wards and Sears)

• First wholesaler/mail order company to sell bicycles on an installment plan

• 1893 Warehouse contained 3,800 bicycles and the showroom had 300-500 cycles on display. (1893 catalog)

• 1893 Official American Rudge Factory, also sole agents for Rudge Circa 1889

Sylph spring-frame safety. (Sold by Rouse and Hazard, but not manufactured in Peoria). Pryor Dodge Collection.

Sylph and Overland Bicycles• 1892 Rouse and Hazard begin

manufacturing Charles Duryea’s Sylph and Overland bicycles

• 1893 Sylph bicycles win highest award at the Chicago World’s Fair.

• 1895 Sylph Track Racer: 16 pounds• 1896 New factory employed 350 and

manufactured 7,500 bicycles• 1894-1898 222,000 bicycles (Peoria

Star, Tuesday, May 11, 1943)

Your’s truly with a 1898 Sylph Model S from the Peoria Riverfront Museum / Marty Potts.

A Few Conclusions

The Illinois bicycle industry before 1900 was much larger than has been recognized

Bicycles and bicycle accessories were a major part of the Chicago economy from 1890-1900

Much of the early Illinois bicycle industry was located outside of the city of Chicago

The Illinois bicycle industry contributed directly to the development of the U.S. automotive industry

Illinois mail order companies contributed to the bicycle bust and thrived in the aftermath.

Questions?

Chris Sweetcsweet@iwu.edu