The Springfield Bicycle Club, organized on May 6, 1881, hosted the second annual International Bicycle Meet in the city's Hampden Park over the three days of September 18, 19 and 20, 1883.
Although the meet held the previous September had garnered a respectable interest, drawing a crowd of 12,000 participants and viewers, the second surpassed all attendance figures of the first and, for a time, held the record for highest attendance of such an event nationwide.
Perched along the east bank of the Connecticut River a bit south of the North End bridge, well-groomed Hampden Park was highly-regarded as one of the finest such venues in the country, with a half-mile bicycle track, a one-mile trotting track and a base ball diamond as well as easy access to transportation and city amenities.
The Milton Bradley Company was responsible for the fine lithography of this colorful moment captured in time.
As always, thanks for stopping by and take care.
Image source: Library of Congress; American Memory Collection; http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?pp/ils:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3a50896))+@field(COLLID+pga))
nice post. I like it that you include a map with location. I will add this to my list of places to hike.
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Lovely illustration, thanks for this post.
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