“By the 1970s, less than thirty of the two hundred seventy… buildings downtown remained…When did Portland start to trade its most unique built feature for acres and acres of pay by the hour asphalt?” — Dan Haneckow, historian A recent post on local historian Dan Haneckow’s Cafe Unknown blog, delved into a sad part of … Read more
Mr. Twain in 1871.(Photo: Wikipedia) Just came across (via @cascadebicycle on Twitter) an amazing bit of Portland bike history via the Seattle-based Crosscut blog. 115 years ago today, America’s beloved nomad, author and commentator Mark Twain visited our little logging town and had some pretty big ideas about biking. Crosscut’s Knute Berger was researching Twain’s … Read more
“We should avoid putting all of our eggs in the freeway basket. In the long run, the most efficient mass transportation is by means other than private automobile… catering to the whims of the individual in his own automobile has proven to be an outrageously expensive luxury…” — City Club of Portland, 1960 50 years … Read more
Cover of The Lost Cyclist. David Herlihy’s forthcoming book, The Lost Cyclist: The Epic Tale of an American Adventurer and His Mysterious Disappearance, has a Portland connection that’s over a century old. Herlihy, author of the award-winning Bicycle: The History, got in touch recently to tell us a bit about the story of Frank Lenz, … Read more
[Editor’s note: This is our second column by Oregon bicycle historian Eric Lundgren. He last wrote about T. T. Geer, an Oregon Governor a century ago who was an early adopter of the bicycle for commuting and touring. This column is about the career of Bemer S. Pague, a weatherman, bicycle advocate, and lawyer from … Read more
[Editor’s note: Eric Lundgren is Oregon’s preeminent bicycle historian. He is working on a book about Portland’s “golden age of cycling,” and has provided his historical perspective to this site in the past. He provided this article about our first bicycling governor in honor of the state’s Sesquicentennial this week.] Governor T.T. Geer(Image courtesy of … Read more
Former Oregon Governor T.T. Geer was known for his cycling, over100 years ago.(Photo courtesy Eric Lundgren) Local author and historian Eric Lundgren — who previously shared his research on Portland’s first “Cycle Park” — will speak on the topic of Portland’s bike history this Friday (11/30) at Portland State University. Lundgren’s talk is part of … Read more
Portland State University Center for Transportation Studies Fall 2007 Transportation Seminar Series Speaker: Eric Lundgren Topic: The Wheels of Fortune: Weather Prophet Pague, Governor Geer, & Portland’s Original Network of Cycle Paths A little over a century ago Portland was building and enjoying a network of dedicated bicycle paths. For a brief and glorious half-decade, … Read more
Former BTA staffer and volunteer Eric Lundgren is hard at work piecing together Portland’s bike history. He’s currently researching the topic for an upcoming book. I’ve read what he’s uncovered so far and I find it fascinating. Given how much bicycling is woven into the fabric of Portland, it’s exciting to learn more about this … Read more
The City of Vancouver is set to unveil a new bike map (cover graphic below) at Bridge Pedal this Sunday. The map is the first to cover local bike routes for both cities since the “Cyclists Road Map of Portland District” was published way back in 1896.
[Then] [Now] One reason Portland is such a great biking town is that bikes have been a part of the landscape for well over 100 years. Case in point; in my office I’ve got a framed version of the “Cyclists’ Road Map of Portland” dated 1896 (more photos here). It’s a really cool map and … Read more