Photo: Detroit News

The North American International Auto Show is in Detroit right now.

And just as many things in Detroit’s transportation history have an early connection to bicycling, so too does the auto show.

According to the Detroit News, the “credit for the beginning of the Detroit auto shows belongs to the energy and enthusiasm of one man — William E. Metzger, who dealt in bicycles before becoming an important figure in the development of the auto industry.”

Metzger had been interested in cycling since the late 1880s. He raced and completed a number of centuries, which was quite challenging given that era’s roads and equipment.

His favorite bike was a star highwheeler. He was the first president of the Detroit Wheelmen cycling club.

After a stint working at Hudson’s, he opened the Huber & Metzger bike shop in 1891. It was located at 13 Grand River between Woodward and Griswold. It eventually became one of the largest bike shops in the U.S..

That bike shop is now on display on the lower level of the Detroit Historical Museum.

He sold his share of this bike shop in 1895 and opened America’s first automobile retail showroom a couple years later. This former bike shop owner (CORRECTED 12/11/2010) He became Detroit’s first auto dealer, and perhaps the first independent auto dealer in the U.S.. He sold electric cars and as well as the first Oldsmobile. He still sold bicycles as late as the 1920s.

But it was in 1899 when he started the first auto show in Detroit (only the second of its kind.) The next year he helped stage the first New York Auto Show.

Metzger was also very active in the Good Roads Movement. And when Horatio “Good Roads” Earle called the first International Good Roads Congress in 1900, he asked his friend William Metzger if he could get a car there for a demo. (The car died halfway around the race track.)

In 1901 he renewed his membership in the League of American Wheelmen and became a lifetime member. Apparently he didn’t completely trade his bicycles for cars.

He went on to greater success helping found the Cadillac Motor Car Company, the Everitt-Metzger-Flanders (E-M-F) Company (which produced 26,000 cars in 1911 — second only to Ford), and the Metzger Motor Company.

Much later his interest switched to airplanes and he started the first airplane show in Detroit. He was friends with some other former bike shops owners: the Wright Brothers.

The Wright Brothers bike shop was preserved by Henry Ford and can be viewed at Greenfield Village.

I recently purchased a Souvenir of Detroit booklet which contains “a sketch of Detroit’s History, Resources and Points of Interest to Visitors.”

It was written in 1891 during the golden age of bicycling. Sure enough, the booklet contained this text on the city’s cycling scene:

The Detroit Wheelmen are the outgrowth of the two Bicycle Clubs, the Detroit and the Star. These, after several meetings, united in the spring of 1890, everything seeming favorable for re-organization. Wheeling up to this time, owning to many reasons, had been indulged in by but the few, and was looked upon as a pastime. Since that time the club has grown in membership, and among its members may be found many of the brightest and most energetic young men in the city.

The Club House, 64 Washington Ave., is cosy and comfortable, where any visiting wheelman finds a welcome. The twelfth annual meet of the League of American Wheelmen fell in good hands, and was the largest and most successful in the League’s history, and stamps Detroit as an important cycling center, around which the rider will find many delightful tours.

The booklet also highlighted Detroit’s early parks, including Belle Isle and Clark, and concludes that “the city is wonderously well provided with lungs.”

And while describing Belle Isle, it notes its “perfect roadbeds furnish facilities for wheelsmen and their ‘bikes’ not excelled anywhere.” It’s not clear why “bikes” is in quotes unless that was a newer term in 1891.

The Detroit Wheelmen’s clubhouse at 53 E. Adams was built for $40,000 in 1896. For a club of only 450 members, that sounds quite an investment.

Can you imagine a bicycle club building and owning such a facility today? This grand building was certainly an indicator of just how “gold” the golden age (1890s) of bicycling was in Detroit.

This clubhouse contained an auditorium, bowling alley, billiard and whist (card game) tables, baths, library, kitchen, dining room, and more.

The building has some really interesting gargoyles above the first floor windows. They look like fish, which wouldn’t seem to make much sense for a bicycle club.

The Detroit Wheelmen logo is on the balcony about the entrance. It’s a ‘W’ intertwined with a ‘D’.

Grand Circus Park from 1920

One interesting feature is the long bike rack along the front of the building. It’s integrated with the metal grills covering the basement windows and also has the DW logo.

Unfortunately the clubhouse is no longer standing. It was located where Comerica Park currently stands. I do not know if it was demolished for the park or many years earlier. The 1928-1929 Polk Directory for Detroit does list the Wheelmen at this location.

A photo of the club interior was included in an earlier m-bike post.

UPDATE, 11/27/2012: We’ve seen a photo from 1960 that shows the building is still standing.

UPDATE, 2/18/2018, A Free Press column from August 26, 1969: “When they tore down a building behind the Metropolitan YMCA, they found in the cornerstone several copies of Detroit newspapers, plus some editions of The Detroit Phonograph, publication of the cycling club that headquartered in the building.” Though still to be confirmed, it seems the clubhouse was transferred to the YMCA at some point. The Detroit Institute of Technology began leasing space at the YMCA including the clubhouse.

Photos from the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library

Below is a brief five year span of early Detroit bicycling history.

Landmarks of Detroit;  By Robert Budd Ross,  George Byron Catlin,  Clarence Monroe Burton

The Detroit Bicycle Club was organized in the spring of 1879. There were only a few persons in Detroit who rode bicycles at that time, the membership did not exceed twenty, and there was no club house.

In the summer of 1886 there was a State bicycle meet in Detroit, under the auspices of the local club. The membership increasing, the club rented a club house on Miami avenue near Wilcox street, and from thence to another near Bagley.

In 1890 the members of the Star Bicycle Club, which had been organized a few years before became members of the Detroit Bicycle Club; the name was changed to Detroit Wheelmen; the club was incorporated; the club house was removed to  No. 64 Washington avenue; and about 125 members rode through Canada on their bicycles to Niagara Falls, a distance of some 300 miles, where the League of American Wheelmen held their national convention.

In 1891 the national body held its annual meeting in Detroit, at which time one of the bicycle shows held in the United States was held in the Auditorium, and an exhibition of first class bicycle racing was given on the old Hamtramck course, on Jefferson avenue.

In 1892 a twenty-five mile road race was contested on Belle Isle Park, and W.C. Rands of Detroit, made the distance in one hour and fifteen minutes — the fastest on record.

In 1893 the club house was removed to No. 298 Randolph street. A road race was held on Belle Isle, and the world’s amateur record was broken by W.B. Hurlburt in one hour eleven minutes and fifty nine seconds.

In 1894 another road race was held on Belle Isle, and W.W. Grant won in record time of 1:00:26.5. In 1895 the club promoted another road race on Belle Isle. This time A. Callahan of Buffalo, won in 1:07:48.8. This was the last road race promoted by the club, but it has always been foremost in putting on track race meets in which the best talent participated, and they have generally been successful from a financial standpoint. Several fast riders have been developed in the club, the most notable being Tom Cooper.

The next club house was built by the club at an expense of about $40,000. It is at Nos. 53 and 55 Adams avenue east, is built of stone and brick, three stories in height with a basement, a fine auditorium, bowling alley, billiard and whist tables, baths, library, kitchen, dining room, etc. The membership is about 450, and the present offlcers are: President, Charles W. Lloyd; first vice-president, Pearce M. Bland; second vice-president, J. H. Hungerford; secretary, Fred C. Winckler; financial treasurer, Frank L. Chidsey; treasurer, George C. Sharer; captain, Frank J. Kremer; directors, L. Vineburg, H.E. Perry, Frank Byrne, W.H. Speaker, W.H. Willebrand, James Cranshaw jr., W.E. Sewell, Louis Schneider.