Bicycling in Seattle, 1879-1904

Bicycling in Seattle, 1879-1904 by Frank Cameron

This is a short history of the first bicycle boom in Seattle. Seattle missed some of the earlier booms, such as the penny farthings. However, it took big to the late 1800s safety bike boom. There were once dozens of bike shops on second avenue. Multiple velodroms appeared all around the regions. The bicycle advocates also wanted roads to ride on. Hills posed challenges, but there were still various bike routes created. They worked hard to improve existing roads and to build roads to travel on. There was a bicycle toll road started to the south. It was never completed, but did have a viaduct through the mud flats built. Other key routes were improved with cinder trails. (However, they had to make sure animals were kept off.) Alas, the bicycle boom tapered off. Many of these bicycle routes become roads, while building lots encroached on others. Interlaken is one of the few remnants. Just imagine if we still had the network radiating from downtown connecting to other places.