on July 25th 1896, residents took to the streets in downtown San Francisco to advocate for better roads for bicycles in “The Great Bicycle Demonstration” – garnering over 100,000 people in the streets.
The next day, the San Francisco Call heralded these bicycle riders as “Disciples of Progress”.
The bicyclists demanded that Market Street be repaved – as a wheelman explains:
“The purpose for the march is three-fold; to show our strength, to celebrate the paving of Folsom Street, and to protest against the conditions of San Francisco pavement in general and of Market Street in particular. If the united press of this city decides that Market Street must be repaved, it will be done in a year”.
The demonstrations and advocacy from these wheelmen resulted in the swift re-paving of Market Street.
The victory was short-lived however as combustion engines allowed motor vehicles to become the method of choice for Americans to transport themselves. Nonetheless, the wheelmen succeeded in paving the roads before being subsequently squeezed off the streets by motorists.
Bicycle sales in the United States sadly dropped from a whopping 1.2 million in 1899 to just 160,000 in 1909 due to the rise of the car. The bicycle rose again during the Great Depression of the 1930’s and again in the 1990’s.
Tomorrow night I will be participating in a demonstration just like these wheelmen did 115 years ago . Except while these wheelman fought for better conditions in San Francisco, I will be fighting merely to prevent our suburban car-is-king mayor from tearing apart what little bicycle infrastructure we have.
Despite the fact that my city is being torn apart, bicycling is on the rise in almost every major city in North America.
History tells us that we will experience an even more significant spike if the United States defaults on its debt for the first time in history – catapulting the global economy into a state that will make the 2008 bust seem like a walk in the park.
In the meantime, while we wait for economic catastrophe to help people discover the freedom and pleasure of using a bicycle for transportation, you can free yourself from the imprisonment of automobile ownership now so that you’re one step ahead.
– from theurbancountry.com