Just in time for Halloween, Ephemeral New York dug up this photo from The New York Times, dated from 1896, and showing a costumed bike ride through Manhattan.
According to the site the ride attracted “[t]housands of riders decked out in costume cycled up to 108th Street, then turned on to Riverside Drive. From there they went to Claremont Avenue, back to Riverside, and down to 66th Street to finish.”
Prizes were given out to the most graceful female rider and the most graceful gentelman rider, “the best decorated costume, the most grotesque or fancy costume, and for the best appearing bicycle club.”
Before the debate raged about whether the streets of Manhattan should be for cars or two-wheelers, thousands of cyclists ran the streets, with just a few people owning cars back in 1896.
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