The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1895-08-30
The First Bicycle

The Record of that city, says:
We have it on the authority of the
Chicago Inter Ocean that Wilkes
Barre can lay claim to being the first
! city in the United States where a
bicycle was ridden. The man who
rode it is John William Tyler, of Al
East Monroe Street, Chicago, who
was the pioneer of the millions who
now push the bike in every
quarter of the globe. Mr.. Tyler is a
middle-aged man with dark hair and
eyes. In early life he was a gymnast.
He is now a jeweler.
Mr.. Tyler was born in Danville,
Pa, IN 1880. AT the age of 10 years
he moved to Wilkes Barre. Here he
enjoyed the wild rapture of seeing a
circus. The pink lemonade, the saw
dust ring, the tights and spanges, the
ground and lofty tumbling had in
descrlbable charms for him, and fired
him with the ambition of being a
gymnast. He accordingly became a
pupil in gymnasium which was open.
ed in Wilkes Barre by Washington
Donaldson, the ill-tated eronaut who
was afterward drowned, in company
with a newspaper man, by his balloon
falling into Lake Michigan. One of
the first acrobatic arts that Donaldson
'aught young Tyler was that of tight.
rope walking, and the pupil acquired
such proficiency that July 4, 1865, he
gave a public exhibition, walking a
rope stretched three stories high
across Marker Street, in Wilkes Barre.
Soon afterward, however, he gave up
the tight rope business, and was ap.
prentlced to a jewsler.
During his apprenticeship he was
reader of the Scientific Americ0n, in
which magazine he one day came
across a paragraph which interested
him very much. 1t dealt with the
improvements made to the bicycle.
or velocipede, as it was then called,
by the brothers Hanlon, who were
surprising Paris by there exploits on
the new machine.
AT TINS time the riding OF a bicycle
wSs considered rather as a gymnastic
exercise, to be undertaken only by
the very skillful. Thus it appeared
to Mr.. Tyler, and he at once ordered
a velocipede from the advertised
manufacturer, namely Calvin Witty,
of 63S Broadway, New York, who
had purchased the patent from the
Hanlons. Said Mr.. Tyler:
After having waited about three
months the velocipede came at last.
1t came c. o. d., with a bill for 500
and letter from the manufacturers
stating that it was the first one they
had made; that l had given them
their first order, and the cause of the
long delay was their not being ready
to manufacture. From the illustra-
tion of the machine l thought it
would cost only $40 or SIS, and l was
not ready to pay 500. A friend,
however, came to my aid and paid
the BIZ, telling me that could give
exhibitions on the machine and in
that way soon be able to pay me back,
which l did-there being plenty of
people then in America willing to pay
money for the privilege of seeing
man ride a veloclpede. That night
| took the wheel out OF the express
office about 9 o'clock and proceeded,
without instructions, to learn how to
ride it, and l managed to ride it about
square. hired an inclosed arena
and people paid to come in and see
me ride, and that fall | established a
velocipede school in Wilkes Barre.
My wheel attracted much interest,
because so popular, in fact, that arti.
cles in reference to it appeared in
great many newspapers, and invita-
tionS poured in upon me to come and
give exhibitions in several places,
which afterwards did, proving that
wheel-rlding was remarkable attrac-
tlon and paying accomplishment.
Alas, people need pay no more for the
sight OF man riding bicycle.
My wheel was something entirely
new to the country. People couldn't
understand it. | remember one day,
when | was wheeling between Wilkes.
Barre and Pittston, | struck high hill
and had to dismount and push my
wheel. A young girl with some cul-
tery in her hand ran out and hailed
me, offering me job she took me
to be a scissors grinder.
AT the county fair of 1860 l ran a
bicycle race with a man who had
made his own machine. 1t was an
exciting contest, in the presence of an
enthusiastic multitude. 1t was a mile
race over a gravel track. | won the
race, doing the mile in thirteen
minutes yes, thirteen minutes-amid
great applause, with my adversary
C 'ose up.
In conjunction with Commodore