The Great Bicycle Craze Hits Southampton

There must have been a few daring souls in Southampton who were capable of riding a “high-mount,” that absurd-looking bike with a sky-high front wheel.

The high-mount was expensive, though, and tended to topple and it wasn’t until after the invention in 1884 of the so-called safety-bicycle — matched wheels of reasonable size powered by pedals — that Southampton, along with much of the rest of the country, experienced the “great bicycle craze.” Unlike the perilous high-mount, the safety bike was easy to ride and though the craze eventually hit all ages and included women, it was the young male hotshots who were the most passionate — and problematic.

Problematic, according to bicycle historian Fred C. Kelly, because at the time it was generally considered “sissified”  — at least by a young man’s peers — to ride at anything but top speeds, hunched over a stripped-down bike in the best possible imitation of a professional racer. Especially problematic in Southampton because, as unnecessary and unlikely as it may seem, these speed demons, or “scorchers,” were using the sidewalks rather than the roads as their race track.

Outrage ensued. In September 1892, the Sea-Side Times published a series of letters under the heading: “The Bicycle Discussion – The People vs. Bicycles.” One writer, calling himself “Indignant,” complains that it is no longer possible to venture outside one’s gates onto village sidewalks except “at imminent peril of his life.” Another, identifying himself as “A Helpless Summer Resident,” asserts that if nothing is done “the only safe way for quiet citizens will be to stay at home after dark, as they had to do in the Middle Ages …”

What was needed, he suggested, was simple enough: Bicyclists would have to keep to certain roads “assigned to them by law.”

There is no record of any fatalities caused by crazed “wheelmen,” as they were called, and the rash of lawlessness seems eventually to have been brought under control.

Technological improvements also enhanced the chances of avoiding catastrophe. The bicycle lamp made a leap when the old oil lamp was replaced by the carbide lamp, developed in 1895. Water from a little tank dripped down through a wick to a receptacle containing what looked like gray pebbles. When a match was held to the burner, a surprisingly good light was produced, bright enough to illuminate road ruts ... or potential human casualties.

In 1900, the Southampton Village Improvement Association launched one of its most popular projects, a bicycle path around to accommodate the pedaling hordes. The summer colony’s gilded youth employed a huge fleet of bicycles to get around when they weren’t rowing or sailing back and forth between beach and village in one of the little boats that was docked at each of the houses circling Lake Agawam.

Interviewed in the early 1980s when she was herself an octogenarian, Virginia Wanamaker remembered the sense of freedom and mobility that the bicycle conferred in her youth. A typical summer day would start for her with tennis at the . Then it was off to the beach club for a swim, then back for more tennis.

“Of course, the young people never went anywhere except on bicycles,” she recalled.

In the village, too, the bicycle was ubiquitous. The bike shop on Jobs Lane was a busy place and the young William Dunwell could occasionally be spied pedaling purposefully through town, delivering a telegram.

The craze is said to have reached its peak in 1896, to the point that it was blamed for causing a dip in foreign travel. reported in 1897 that “the deadly bicycle has now affected the travel to Europe. Among its enemies must be counted the steamship companies who declare that thousands of Americans will stay home this year and inspect their own country on wheel.”

Sources from the Archives: The Sea-Side Times, September 1892; Southampton Village Improvement Association Minutes, 1900; Oral History interview with Virginia Thaw Wanamaker, 18 June, 1982.