Stumptown Stumper

The Portland Tribune, Mar 7, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Courtesy of Multnomah Athletic Club

Multnomah Athletic Club members formed the Early Birds cycling group a century ago.

Every Friday in Stumptown Stumper, the Portland Tribune offers a trivia question and answer to help you boost your Rose City IQ.

Q: Portland enjoyed a bicycling craze in the 1890s, but it died down a decade later. What caused the trend to slow down? Hint: It wasn’t the automobile.

A: Karl Klooster, who wrote witty “one-half-minute history lessons” throughout the 1980s for This Week (a former downtown weekly), has a snappy take on this particular craze – which, obviously, never went away at all.

In his Nov. 11, 1987, column, Klooster asked readers what caused the decline in bicycling after the fad just started picking up in the late 1890s. He answered his own question in his trademark tongue-in-cheek style: “Women of questionable character, wearing bright clothing and split skirts, took up the sport.”

In fact, the bicycle business was booming nationally at this time, just after the first American manufacturer released the first models in 1878.

According to Klooster’s column, a young entrepreneur in Portland named Fred T. Merrill – who later went on to serve three City Council terms – was the exclusive dealer for the Rambler and Pacemaker brands, selling them in a huge showroom at Southwest Sixth Avenue and Alder Street, the largest in the country.

In 1898, Klooster notes, Merrill sold 8,850 units, more than any other dealer in the U.S. In 1908, he built a mile-long oval racetrack for bikes that drew thousands of spectators into the early 1920s. In 1923, the track was turned into the first nine holes of the Rose City Golf Course.

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