Montreal Bicycle Club
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      • S1 E1 Pilot
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      • S2 E1 Lessons from the Pandemic
    • MBC Historical Bike Tour >
      • Tour Starting Point Shaika Cafe
      • Stop #1 MAAA Grounds
      • Stop #2 Founding of Club at 33 Chomedey
      • Stop #3 Bertie Lane's CDN Hill Climb
      • Stop #4 Lacrosse Grounds
      • Stop #10 Queens park Velodrome Verdun
      • Tour Lunch Break: Lachine Rapids
      • Stop # 11 Fleming Windmill
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    • Issues >
      • Sherbrooke Street Bike Path
  • Minute Book
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      • Instructions on Adding Fixtures to personal Google Calendar
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    • 2023 Annual Report >
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        • November 2022 (Google Slide)
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      • 2020 Composite Photo
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      • November 2020 >
        • Rev Dreams
      • December 2020
    • 2019 Annual Report >
      • January 2019
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      • March 2019
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      • May 2019
      • June 2019
      • July 2019 >
        • 2-3 July 2019 Prince Edward County / Kingston
        • 18-23 July 2019 Saguenay & Charlevoix Tour
      • August 2019 >
        • 2-4 August 2019 Tout Le P'tit Train du Nord
      • September 2019 >
        • 1-2 September 2019 Simcoe County Loop (Wendat Trail)
        • 11-13 September 2019 Rivière-à-Pierre to Quebec City
      • October 2019
      • November 2019
      • December 2019
    • 2018 Annual Report >
      • March 2018
      • April 2018 >
        • Pittsburgh to Washington DC Excursion
      • May 2018
      • June 2018
      • July 2018
      • August 2018
      • September 2018 >
        • Park(ing) Day in Westmount 2018
      • October 2018
      • November 2018
    • 2017 Annual Report >
      • 4 March 2017, Nuit Blanche
      • 21 March 2017, Re-Founders Meeting
      • 25 March - Earth Hour / Turcot Bicycle Overpass
      • 02 April - Fixture Ride highligthing Issues
      • 18 May Atwater Library Lunchtime Series
      • June - Fixture rides
      • July - Fixture rides
      • August - Fixture rides
      • September - Fixture rides
      • October - Fixture rides
      • November - Fixture Rides
      • December - Fixture Rides
    • Club Minute Book 1878-1904
    • 2 Dec 1878 Meeting
  • Poppies
    • Sobriquets A-D >
      • F.E. Adams
      • Susan B. Anthony
      • Louise Armaindo
      • E.W. Barlow
      • A.G. Batchelder
      • Daisy Bell
      • Ernestine Bernard
      • G. T. Bishop
      • Amelia Bloomer
      • Elsa von Blumen
      • Claud Butler
      • Dorothy Coles
      • Phylis Cole & Joan Cole
      • Disreali
      • Dr. Parry E. Doolittle
      • Joseph Drury
    • Sobriquets E-L >
      • Miss M.J. Frothingham
      • Arhur Edward George
      • Forest Gnome
      • Daisy Greville
      • Arthur Harris
      • G. Harries
      • Alice Hawkins
      • Edmond Jacquelin
      • F.M.S. Jenkins
      • G. Kingan
      • Kittie Knox
      • Karolina Kocięcka
      • Karl Kron
      • Pierre Lallement
      • A.T. Lane
      • Exilda Lachapelle
      • G.S Low
      • Annie Londonderry
      • D. S. Louson
    • Sobriquets M-U >
      • Kirkpatrick Macmillan
      • Susan McCormick
      • Birdie Munger
      • Mile A Minute Murphy
      • W.G. Ross
      • Louis Rubenstein
      • Alfred Wesley Sherritt
      • S. Saxe
      • C.J. Sidey
      • The Snowball Sisters
      • James Starley
      • Henry Sturmey
      • Helena Swanwick
      • W. Tately
      • Major Taylor
      • Doreen Thomas
      • H.S. Tibbs
    • Sobriquets W-Z >
      • Vélocio
      • Queen Victoria
      • J.E. Walsh
      • Maria E. Ward
      • W.S. Weldon
      • The Royal Worcester
    • Places >
      • Velocipede Era 1867-1874 >
        • Drill Hall
        • Nordheimer's Hall
        • Crystal Palace
      • High Wheel Era 1874-1891 >
        • 33 Chomedey Street
        • Lacrosse Grounds
        • MAAA Clubhouse (Montreal Gymnasium)
        • Blue Bonnets
        • MAAA Grounds
      • Bicycle Craze of the 1890's >
        • The Wanderers Bicycle Club
        • YMCA Building Dominion Square
        • Queens Park Velodrome
    • Things
  • History
    • 1817-1867 Dandy Horse Era
    • 1867-1874 Velocipede era
    • Birth of the High Wheel Bicycle
    • The High Wheel Bicycle comes to North America
    • Founding of the Montreal Bicycle Club >
      • MBC Uniforms and Symbols
    • The High Wheel Era in Montreal >
      • Canadian Wheelmen's Association (CWA) Annual Meets
    • The MAAA grounds and the transition to the Safety Bicycle
    • The Bicycle Craze of the 1890's
    • The 1899 International Cycling Association World Championship in Montreal
    • Collapse of 19th Century Bicycle Organizations
    • Conclusion >
      • 1900-1918 Everyday transportation
    • Records >
      • Online Sources
      • Books and papers on subject
      • Where to find Artifacts
      • detailed references
      • Historical maps of Montreal
      • 1894 CWA Meet Montreal Map
  • Scrapbook
    • 1870's Ice Velocipede >
      • 1878 MBC By Laws
    • 1880 MBC Meeting to join LAW >
      • 1882 Louise Armaindo 100 mile race in Montreal
      • 1882 Group Photo and early race
      • 1883 MBC History from CWA The Bicycle
      • 1884 Mr Jenkins Ottawa-Matane tour >
        • 1884 CWA Meet in Toronto
        • 1884 CWA request for funds by Karl Kron
      • 1885 Notman Composite Photograph >
        • 1885 Fixtures and race reports
        • 1885 CWA Meet in Woodstock
        • 1885 kangaroos and tricycles
        • 1885 W.G. Ross, early champion
      • 1886 Fixtures, race and CWA parade reports
      • 1887 Bertie Lane & CDN hill >
        • Toast to Bertie Lane
      • 1888 Ottawa Meet >
        • 1888 CWA Belleville Meet
        • 1888 Gnaedinger Cup
      • 1889 CWA St Catherines Meet
    • 1890 MAAA grounds & road racing >
      • 1890 CWA Ottawa Meet >
        • 1891 Road Race, Safeties vs Ordinaries
      • 1891 Arrival of Safety Bicycle >
        • 1891 CWA Hamilton Meet
        • 1891 MAAA grounds racing
        • 1891 Annual Report
    • 1892 Springtime News >
      • 1892 Composite Photo
      • 1892 Racing News
      • 1892 Kingston Meet
      • 1892 Century Run
    • 1893 Annual Report
    • 1894 Sarnia to Montreal Relay Ride >
      • 1894 CWA Meet Montreal
      • 1894 CWA Racing Rules
    • 1895 Annual Report
    • 1896 Annual Report >
      • 1896 Montreal Star Bicycle Issue
      • 1896 Wheel and Cycling Review article on Montreal
    • 1897 Annual Report >
      • 1897 Notman Composite Photograph
      • 1897 Bicycle Map of Montreal
    • 1898 Annual Report >
      • 1898 Montreal Park and Island Railway
      • 1898 Queens Park Velodrome Verdun
    • 1899 World Championship Speculation >
      • 1899 Major Taylor sets World record
      • 1899 World Championship Report
      • 1899 Montreal Gazette 10 Aug
    • 1900 CWA & CCA
    • 1901 Annual Report
  • Cycling Without Age
    • Go Fund Me
    • Cycling Without Age in Westmount
    • The Sociable tricycle
    • 27 Nov 2020 CWA Kick Off Meeting
    • 15 Jan 2021 CWA Progress Meeting
Back

Montreal Cycling History
The High Wheel Bicycle comes to North America

    Three years after Starley’s 100 mile ride, on July 1, Dominion day, 1874,  in Montreal, A.T. Lane, an immigrant from Liverpool, first rode an English high wheel bicycle from Coventry.  He worked for an importer of sporting equipment, and from then on began bringing bicycles and tricycles from England to Canada for resale. This Notman studio photograph was taken in 1880, 6 years after A.T. Lane’s first ride in Montreal.  His son Bertie, mounted on his tricycle, would have been only 3 years old.

       Karl Kron’s 1887 book “10,000 Miles on a Bicycle” as well as many other cycling  journals of that time credit A.T. Lane as the first person to ride a high wheel bicycle in North America.
Picture
    However, the High Wheel bicycle did not become widely known in North America until 2 years after A.T Lane’s first ride in Montreal. Bicycle manufacturers from England  exhibited the High Wheel at the Centennial world fair in Philadelphia. Over 10 million people attended that fair which also featured such new products as Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone, the Remington typewriter, and Heinz ketchup.

Picture
Colonel Albert Augustus Pope, an American civil war veteran saw some of the English High Wheel bicycles at the exhibit and also began importing them. Later he founded the Columbia bicycle company, becoming America’s most successful bicycle manufacturer.
Picture
 The high wheel bicycle became a sensation and inspired a wave of bicycle clubs.  Boston started the first club in North America, Feb 1878, followed by another in Bangor Maine. These first two clubs were both founded by patent lawyer Charles E. Pratt.


Picture
    Pratt, the patent lawyer and Pope, the civil war veteran turned bicycle manufacturer met in Boston and joined forces
Picture
As Pope’s business grew Pratt became an employee and together they promoted cycling in America by founding bicycle clubs, publishing a sporting and travel journal called Outing magazine, and the creation of the League of American Wheelmen. Also known as the Law.

Picture
    The bicycle was a new invention and they were not certain how best to promote it.  Should it be marketed as a new form of transportation for the masses, or a new racing sport, or a way to display one’s wealth and knowledge of the latest technology?  Since Pope was a civil war veteran, and bicycles were thought of in terms of being “iron horses” he thought that bicycle clubs should be run similar to the military cavalry.  His partner Pratt disdained racing as elitist and believed the bicycle should be promoted primarily as a means for ordinary people to travel out into the countryside.  Any legal issues regarding this new form of transport were handled by Pratt on behalf of Columbia Cycle, formulateting many of today’s legal concepts regarding road traffic safety.
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  • About
    • TV Series Montreal's Cycling Ghosts >
      • S1 E1 Pilot
      • S1 E2 Ghostly Commands
      • S1 E3 Running with the Bulls
      • S2 E1 Lessons from the Pandemic
    • MBC Historical Bike Tour >
      • Tour Starting Point Shaika Cafe
      • Stop #1 MAAA Grounds
      • Stop #2 Founding of Club at 33 Chomedey
      • Stop #3 Bertie Lane's CDN Hill Climb
      • Stop #4 Lacrosse Grounds
      • Stop #10 Queens park Velodrome Verdun
      • Tour Lunch Break: Lachine Rapids
      • Stop # 11 Fleming Windmill
    • How to join
    • Contact us
    • Issues >
      • Sherbrooke Street Bike Path
  • Minute Book
    • Fixtures Calendar >
      • Instructions on Adding Fixtures to personal Google Calendar
    • MBC Blog
    • Falaise Birder's Blog
    • 2023 Annual Report >
      • January 2023
      • February 2023
      • March 2023
    • 2022 Annual Report >
      • January 2022
      • February 2022
      • March 2022
      • May 2022
      • June 2022
      • July 2022
      • August 2022
      • September 2022
      • October 2022
      • November 2022 >
        • November 2022 (Google Slide)
      • December 2022
    • 2021 Annual Report >
      • January 2021
      • February 2021
      • March 2021
      • April 2021
      • May 2021
      • June 2021
      • July 2021
      • August 2021
      • September 2021
      • October 2021
      • November 2021
      • December 2021
    • 2020 Annual Report >
      • 2020 Composite Photo
      • January 2020
      • February 2020
      • March 2020
      • April 2020
      • May 2020
      • June 2020
      • July 2020
      • August 2020
      • September 2020
      • October 2020
      • November 2020 >
        • Rev Dreams
      • December 2020
    • 2019 Annual Report >
      • January 2019
      • February 2019
      • March 2019
      • April 2019
      • May 2019
      • June 2019
      • July 2019 >
        • 2-3 July 2019 Prince Edward County / Kingston
        • 18-23 July 2019 Saguenay & Charlevoix Tour
      • August 2019 >
        • 2-4 August 2019 Tout Le P'tit Train du Nord
      • September 2019 >
        • 1-2 September 2019 Simcoe County Loop (Wendat Trail)
        • 11-13 September 2019 Rivière-à-Pierre to Quebec City
      • October 2019
      • November 2019
      • December 2019
    • 2018 Annual Report >
      • March 2018
      • April 2018 >
        • Pittsburgh to Washington DC Excursion
      • May 2018
      • June 2018
      • July 2018
      • August 2018
      • September 2018 >
        • Park(ing) Day in Westmount 2018
      • October 2018
      • November 2018
    • 2017 Annual Report >
      • 4 March 2017, Nuit Blanche
      • 21 March 2017, Re-Founders Meeting
      • 25 March - Earth Hour / Turcot Bicycle Overpass
      • 02 April - Fixture Ride highligthing Issues
      • 18 May Atwater Library Lunchtime Series
      • June - Fixture rides
      • July - Fixture rides
      • August - Fixture rides
      • September - Fixture rides
      • October - Fixture rides
      • November - Fixture Rides
      • December - Fixture Rides
    • Club Minute Book 1878-1904
    • 2 Dec 1878 Meeting
  • Poppies
    • Sobriquets A-D >
      • F.E. Adams
      • Susan B. Anthony
      • Louise Armaindo
      • E.W. Barlow
      • A.G. Batchelder
      • Daisy Bell
      • Ernestine Bernard
      • G. T. Bishop
      • Amelia Bloomer
      • Elsa von Blumen
      • Claud Butler
      • Dorothy Coles
      • Phylis Cole & Joan Cole
      • Disreali
      • Dr. Parry E. Doolittle
      • Joseph Drury
    • Sobriquets E-L >
      • Miss M.J. Frothingham
      • Arhur Edward George
      • Forest Gnome
      • Daisy Greville
      • Arthur Harris
      • G. Harries
      • Alice Hawkins
      • Edmond Jacquelin
      • F.M.S. Jenkins
      • G. Kingan
      • Kittie Knox
      • Karolina Kocięcka
      • Karl Kron
      • Pierre Lallement
      • A.T. Lane
      • Exilda Lachapelle
      • G.S Low
      • Annie Londonderry
      • D. S. Louson
    • Sobriquets M-U >
      • Kirkpatrick Macmillan
      • Susan McCormick
      • Birdie Munger
      • Mile A Minute Murphy
      • W.G. Ross
      • Louis Rubenstein
      • Alfred Wesley Sherritt
      • S. Saxe
      • C.J. Sidey
      • The Snowball Sisters
      • James Starley
      • Henry Sturmey
      • Helena Swanwick
      • W. Tately
      • Major Taylor
      • Doreen Thomas
      • H.S. Tibbs
    • Sobriquets W-Z >
      • Vélocio
      • Queen Victoria
      • J.E. Walsh
      • Maria E. Ward
      • W.S. Weldon
      • The Royal Worcester
    • Places >
      • Velocipede Era 1867-1874 >
        • Drill Hall
        • Nordheimer's Hall
        • Crystal Palace
      • High Wheel Era 1874-1891 >
        • 33 Chomedey Street
        • Lacrosse Grounds
        • MAAA Clubhouse (Montreal Gymnasium)
        • Blue Bonnets
        • MAAA Grounds
      • Bicycle Craze of the 1890's >
        • The Wanderers Bicycle Club
        • YMCA Building Dominion Square
        • Queens Park Velodrome
    • Things
  • History
    • 1817-1867 Dandy Horse Era
    • 1867-1874 Velocipede era
    • Birth of the High Wheel Bicycle
    • The High Wheel Bicycle comes to North America
    • Founding of the Montreal Bicycle Club >
      • MBC Uniforms and Symbols
    • The High Wheel Era in Montreal >
      • Canadian Wheelmen's Association (CWA) Annual Meets
    • The MAAA grounds and the transition to the Safety Bicycle
    • The Bicycle Craze of the 1890's
    • The 1899 International Cycling Association World Championship in Montreal
    • Collapse of 19th Century Bicycle Organizations
    • Conclusion >
      • 1900-1918 Everyday transportation
    • Records >
      • Online Sources
      • Books and papers on subject
      • Where to find Artifacts
      • detailed references
      • Historical maps of Montreal
      • 1894 CWA Meet Montreal Map
  • Scrapbook
    • 1870's Ice Velocipede >
      • 1878 MBC By Laws
    • 1880 MBC Meeting to join LAW >
      • 1882 Louise Armaindo 100 mile race in Montreal
      • 1882 Group Photo and early race
      • 1883 MBC History from CWA The Bicycle
      • 1884 Mr Jenkins Ottawa-Matane tour >
        • 1884 CWA Meet in Toronto
        • 1884 CWA request for funds by Karl Kron
      • 1885 Notman Composite Photograph >
        • 1885 Fixtures and race reports
        • 1885 CWA Meet in Woodstock
        • 1885 kangaroos and tricycles
        • 1885 W.G. Ross, early champion
      • 1886 Fixtures, race and CWA parade reports
      • 1887 Bertie Lane & CDN hill >
        • Toast to Bertie Lane
      • 1888 Ottawa Meet >
        • 1888 CWA Belleville Meet
        • 1888 Gnaedinger Cup
      • 1889 CWA St Catherines Meet
    • 1890 MAAA grounds & road racing >
      • 1890 CWA Ottawa Meet >
        • 1891 Road Race, Safeties vs Ordinaries
      • 1891 Arrival of Safety Bicycle >
        • 1891 CWA Hamilton Meet
        • 1891 MAAA grounds racing
        • 1891 Annual Report
    • 1892 Springtime News >
      • 1892 Composite Photo
      • 1892 Racing News
      • 1892 Kingston Meet
      • 1892 Century Run
    • 1893 Annual Report
    • 1894 Sarnia to Montreal Relay Ride >
      • 1894 CWA Meet Montreal
      • 1894 CWA Racing Rules
    • 1895 Annual Report
    • 1896 Annual Report >
      • 1896 Montreal Star Bicycle Issue
      • 1896 Wheel and Cycling Review article on Montreal
    • 1897 Annual Report >
      • 1897 Notman Composite Photograph
      • 1897 Bicycle Map of Montreal
    • 1898 Annual Report >
      • 1898 Montreal Park and Island Railway
      • 1898 Queens Park Velodrome Verdun
    • 1899 World Championship Speculation >
      • 1899 Major Taylor sets World record
      • 1899 World Championship Report
      • 1899 Montreal Gazette 10 Aug
    • 1900 CWA & CCA
    • 1901 Annual Report
  • Cycling Without Age
    • Go Fund Me
    • Cycling Without Age in Westmount
    • The Sociable tricycle
    • 27 Nov 2020 CWA Kick Off Meeting
    • 15 Jan 2021 CWA Progress Meeting