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.

There were certainly fewer rules for Detroit cyclists in July 1900. Unlike today, bells and lights were not required on bicycles.

However there was a common speed limit of 12 miles per hour (and 8 MPH around corners.) This speed limit was lower than Grand Rapids (15 MPH) but higher than Chicago’s (10 MPH.) In Des Moines, Iowa the speed limit was “a moderate gait,” which makes one think these limits were originally set for horses.

Given the road conditions in 1900, these speed limits may have been reasonable. The Michigan LAW didn’t seem to take issue with Detroit’s limits.

The League of American Wheelmen (LAW) also made these suggestions.

Wheelmen will find it advantageous as a precaution against arrest to govern themselves in accordance with the following suggestions covering points on which some cities have legislated and others have not

• Keep to the right
• Ride no more than two abreast
• Keep off the sidewalks
• Move cautiously around corners
• Ride straight keep your wheel under control sit so you have a clear view of the road and keep at least one hand on the handle bar
• Before riding on a cycle path, find out whether or not you are entitled to use it without buying a license tag
• If you collide with another wheelman or a pedestrian, dismount, and if he asks for your name and address, give it

In 1888, the pneumatic bicycle tire was invented which made riding on rough roads much more comfortable. By 1890, the safety bicycle design (what we have today) replaced the more difficult to ride highwheelers. This also opened the door for more women riders.

It was these milestones that ushered in the mass adoption of bicycles. Bicycle production peaked at nearly 2 million in 1897.

Historians call this the golden age of bicycling.

And during this time, the League of American Wheelmen (LAW) was the national bicycle advocacy organization.

They had a Michigan Division which was led by Edward Hines during most of the 1890s. They were highly successful as Hines noted in his membership drive from 1899. They fought for equal access to Detroit roads and against ordinances requiring lights, bells, and bike registration. They got bikes allowed on trains. They got the city to build a bicycle pavilion on Belle Isle. Also, in 1896 the Detroit Wheelmen built a very fine 3-story club house.

Nationwide, there were 102,636 LAW members in 1898.

By 1902, there were 8,692 members. The bicycle craze was over and the LAW closed their doors.

A popular perception is the arrival of the car killed the bicycle’s popularity, but the timeline doesn’t support that.

From 1901 to 1904, Detroit’s Olds Motor Works was the nation’s leading auto manufacturer. They produced 425 cars in 1901 and 2,500 in 1902. The Ford Motor Company didn’t exist until 1903. While many cyclists undoubtedly switched to cars, there weren’t enough (affordable) cars in 1901 to replace all the bicycles.

It seems likely that many bicyclists switched to streetcars — at least in Detroit.

In December of 1900, all of Metro Detroit’s streets car were consolidated into one Detroit Urban Railway (DUR) system. The fare was a flat 5 cents on most lines and 3 cents on the remainder. By 1901, the DUR acquired nearly all of the interurban lines, which provided rapid rail travel to cities outside of Detroit and as far away as Port Huron, Jackson and Toledo.

Below is an excerpt from a May 1901 LAW Bulletin article that notes cyclists switching to streetcars.

Why do we note a decline in wheeling? We think it has its root in the laziness of mankind. Time was when men wanted to get out and see the country and they employed the wheel. They had to work for it but they felt paid for all their labor in what they took in of scenery and fresh air. And now comes the trolley car and takes them out into the open country and they do no labor, get nearly all of it without work and for a nickel. We are such a lazy set that we use the nickel.

But that is not all. There is another point where wheeling hits a man in his lazy longitude. It’s a question of clothes. When a man desires to ride he must change his clothes, and when he has finished he must make another change. The trolley car requires no change of clothing and he takes the trolley. These two appeals to a man’s laziness have been very potent factors in causing riders to give up the wheel.

But all men are not lazy. There are many left who vote the wheel the king of pleasures. There are many who do ride and who will ride as long as they have strength to push a pedal and a keen appreciation of the beauties of nature when we meet her face to face. The trolley car does not put us into communion with nature as the wheel does. It does not go into the by ways the forest roads the out of the way places where we find the richest treasures of scenery. There is an independence on the wheel that we do not have on the trolley and there is an exhilaration that comes to us in no other way.

It seems the same author published an article with a similar tone in the October 1901 Bulletin, which ended with this foretelling sentence:

We are too lazy to work for our fun and we fear the muscular development we were once proud of will give place to flabbiness.

But eventually Detroit’s railway system suffered a similar demise as its ridership shifted to using buses and cars.

However, it should be noted that the futures of bicycling and light rail in Detroit are looking brighter than they have in generations. And this time, they can enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship, not unlike what the SMART (and forthcoming DDOT) bus bike racks provide.

Reference: LAW Cycling Handbook from 1945

W.K. Kellogg of Battle Creek, Michigan is famous for breakfast cereal. Everyone knows that.

What’s less known is his connection to cycling.

W.K. Kellogg was a member of the League of American Wheelmen (L.A.W.). Although not knowing when he joined, his membership number is very low (1,092) making him one of the first Michigan cyclists to sign up.

In 1897, Battle Creek had the third most L.A.W. memberships behind Detroit and Grand Rapids (but just one more than Escanaba!)

When the L.A.W. began life memberships in 1901, W.K. Kellogg paid the $10 fee. He was just the seventh Michigan cyclist to do so. (Nationwide, Detroiters Horatio “Good Roads” Earle bought the first life membership while Edward Hines had the sixth.)

With his brother, W.K. Kellogg started the Sanitas Nut Food Company in the late 1890s. Both were vegetarians who experimented with nut butter as a protein substitute. They even received a patent for this early predecessor of modern peanut butter.

Their company advertisement on the right was printed in a 1901 League of American Wheelmen Bulletin. This was an early example of a healthy, sports-oriented protein product.

But in 1906, W.K. Kellogg parted ways with his brother and the nut business to concentrate on breakfast cereals.

From the Kellogg Foundation web site:

W.K. went on to become one of the world’s wealthiest men. But with his puritanical conscience, he felt guilty living the lavish life of a millionaire. Instead, W.K. felt obligated to use his fortune for the benefit of humankind: “If I am successful in getting out of debt, and become prosperous,” he wrote in 1909, “I expect to make good use of any wealth that may come to me.”

In 1930, W.K. Kellogg made good on that promise when he established the Kellogg Foundation. During his lifetime, he donated most of his fortune ($66 million) to create the Foundation’s endowment.

But that’s not the end of the Kellogg/bicycling connection. The Kellogg Foundation continues to support bicycle-related efforts throughout the U.S.

For example, they granted $1 million to help develop greenways in Southeast Michigan. They’ve also committed $2 million to building a non-motorized trail from Kalamazoo to Battle Creek.

Originally published in the Good Roads Magazine, June 1901. A publication of the League of American Wheelmen. Note that “wheel” is another term for a bicycle while “scorch” means to race or ride fast. The emphasis on the last tip is our doing.

• Don’t forget that it is just as far home as it is going out.
• Don’t leave your wheel outside an office building. Someone may win it.
• Don’t buy a wheel simply because it is cheap. Remember you have only one neck.
• Don’t overdo things at the start. Cycling is a good thing but like every other good thing can be worked too much.
• Don’t pay any attention to the big gear the fellow next door rides. Get one to suit your own style and strength and stick to it.
• Don’t rely on the other fellow having an oil can or wrench. Better take one along for he may have forgotten his.
• Don’t forget that you have a bell on your machine at the same time it is often better for you to go a little out of your way than to ring it.
• Don’t take your wheel apart everytime you come home from a ride. Keep it clean and see that the nuts are tight a good wheel needs little else.
• Don’t mind the road hog. He was born that way and it’s too late to teach him anything.
• Don’t scorch on the city street. There is not much glory in it and besides it is expensive.
• Don’t worry about the fellow with the big gear who gives you the ha ha on the level. Just lay for him on the next hill.
• Don’t take any chances at street car crossings. It is much easier to go around a car than through it and besides it is far more comfortable.
• Don’t leave your wheel at home when you can use it. You save expense get the exercise and are sure of a seat.
• Don’t ride all over the street. Keep to your side of the road but be sure you get what is coming to you.
• Don’t imagine you have the only wheel that was ever built. You haven’t. There are many others and just as good.
• Don’t ride hands off on busy thoroughfares. If you must show off your fancy riding hire a hall. You have much more room and then again the price of admission will pay for repairs to self and wheel.
• Don’t race on the park roads simply because the trotter ahead is going just as fast. This explanation is of very little use if you are the one caught.
• Don’t think that cycling is a fad. It isn’t. It is a healthy and pleasurable means of transportation to be used when necessity or inclination so dictates.

— Jos Estoclet