Digital illustration of an analog photograph, how about that! Thank you Casey Robertson (aka @champagne_rodman) for helping us have some fun with history. This is Wilburt Stevens Maltby. Maltby and I both graduated from the same high school, but were separated by about 120 years. Maltby also happened to be employed and sponsored by the Keating Wheel Co during the 1890s as a trick cyclist. Thank you Casey for pumping some new life into this old photograph of ours, and continuing on Maltby’s legacy!
It’s always a treat receiving messages from folks who have stumbled upon some cycling history in their family who hope to fill a hole in their research or share stories passed down across the generations.
One in particular came through the mailbox this week that, given our current state of Covid quarantine, became a strong reminder of connection and how the bicycle can ignite curiosity and bridge the gap between time (over a century in this case) and space (some thousand + miles).
Leave it to @bicyclecrumbs to put a smile on our faces amidst the covid craziness. Thanks for the family portraits my friend. 122 years might separate these two, but grandad is still looking pretty sprightly!
The rise of the bicycle during the late 1800's created a revolution for tinkerers and those looking to capitalize on the latest fashion. Technology of the era catered heavily to this growing market, and patents surged for any and all ideas thought to make riding a bicycle more fun, more efficient, more faster and on all accounts just more better.
The bicycle, vastly unchanged in over a century, remains as captivating and magnetic as when the tires first hit the road. For my first post in “Wheel Chronicles”, we will look back to January 1893 and Volume 10 of The Wheel and Cycling Trade Review. In it, the article Van Corker Goes For A Scorch -- a 125-year-old account of a spirited Spring rideoutside New York City.
[1895] Theodore Roosevelt, the New York City Police Commissioner at the time, creates a 29-member bike squad to apprehend speeding horse-drawn carriages. Within the first year, 1,366 unlucky speeders are arrested.
[January 19, 1895] Keating sets up at stand 90 on the main floor of MSG for The National Show, the largest bicycle event of the year. Announced that year are 5 new models, along with a 17lb racing bicycle and the companies first tandem - a 30lb lightweight priced at $130.
[1894] Wilburt Stevens Maltby and I both graduated from the same high school, though were separated by about 120 years. It was in Lebanon, New Hampshire that we both found our knack for bicycle riding, and it was this realization that led Maltby around the world as a preeminent trick cyclist.
[May 17, 1892] H.F. Campbell rides his Keating bicycle down the stone steps of Providence City Hall - not once, but nine times - in a “dramatic” demonstration of strength.
