| The Wrights opened a bicycle sales and repair shop called the Wright Cycle Exchange at 1005 West Third Street in Dayton, OH in 1892. They carried many brands of bicycles, including Fleetwing, Reading, Coventry Cross, Envoy, Smalley, Warwick, Duchess, and Halladay-Temple. Prices ranged from $40 to $100. The Wrights also rented bicycles and sold parts and accessories. It’s probably not an accident that the Wrights decided to open in 1892 or that they chose a location on West Third Street. The League of American Wheelmen held their twelfth annual meet in Dayton on July 4 and 5, 1892. It was a huge event with thousands of cyclists visiting the city to compete in thirteen different races for prizes worth up to $500. |
| In late 1895, the Wrights began to make preparations to manufacture their own bicycles. They introduced the “Van Cleve” on April 24, 1896. The Van Cleves, ancestors of the Wrights, had been among Dayton’s first settlers, arriving in 1796. Dayton was about to celebrate its centennial in 1896 and historical awareness was high – it was a good choice for a brand name. Later in the year, the Wrights introduced a second, less expensive model called the “St. Clair.” Again, the name was drawn from local history; Arthur St. Clair had been the first president of the Northwest Territory, which later became Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. |
The bicycle business was good to the Wright brothers, initially. In their best year (1897), they made $3000 or $1500 apiece in a time when the average American worker was doing well to make $500 per year. They also managed to save $5000, which went a long way in financing their aviation experiments. These thrived until huge manufacturing firms geared up for mass production, selling bikes for as little as $10 apiece by the turn of the century.
| While the Wrights are thought to have manufactured several hundred bicycles between 1896 and 1904, only five still exist: A St. Clair, manufactured before 1900, currently at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington DC. (It’s on loan from The Henry Ford.) Two Van Cleves, both manufactured after 1900, at Carillon Park in Dayton, Ohio. A Van Cleve, probably manufactured after 1900, at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. (This is the only known example of a women’s bicycle built by the Wrights.) A Van Cleve, manufactured prior to 1900, at Greenfield Village, part of The Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, Michigan. |
Reflexive Analysis
Bikes were important to not only the story of the Wright brothers and of Dayton but also their businesses and developments over time. Not only did the Wright brothers famously produce bikes here, but so did Huffy. It was the Huffman family whose prairie the brothers flew in that would later go on to buy the sewing machine factory in order to produce Huffy bikes. There may be opportunity to reference the history of the cycling industry that exists in Dayton through this project. Currently there are bike sharing/rental services in Dayton via Link. Perhaps there is a way to connect this service to the service of the NPS in town and subsequently the Wright brothers’ story.
I also found it incredible that we saw two of the five known bicycles that the brothers produced while in Dayton.
Sources
Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company/Information Desk/Just the facts/wright bicycles. Wright Bicycles. (n.d.). https://www.wright-brothers.org/Information_Desk/Just_the_Facts/Bicycles/Wright_Bicycles.htm
