{"id":15423,"date":"2020-05-17T08:55:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-17T15:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/?p=15423"},"modified":"2025-07-25T11:22:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T18:22:34","slug":"indianapolis-was-a-bike-racing-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2020\/05\/17\/indianapolis-was-a-bike-racing-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"The Newby Oval – 1898 to 1903."},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

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Did you know that Indianapolis was once known as one of the leading cities in bicycle transportation? While harder to envision today, given our city has paved the way for motorized transportation, this history started in 1869.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

With the help of “Untold Indy” a magazine that has since retired back in 2012… an article by Natalie Atwell told this amazing history. We will link it here<\/a> but here are some of the most fascinating things we took away from this article and a historical look back.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Indy saw its first bicycle in a demonstration on the circle.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It was called the “Ordinary<\/a>” (sometimes also called a penny-farthing) but many referred to it as the “boneshaker” because it was created before air-filled rubber tires. Can you imagine? This strange mechanical wonder had one large wheel in front and a smaller one in the back. If you’ve ever seen our own Martin Krieg<\/a> on his older-looking bike, his is actually the opposite configuration with a large wheel in the back and a smaller one up front. This bike is often called “the Eagle” in cycling circles but was never given an actual name. Some refer to it as a Reverse HiWheel.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In 1886, a bike shop opened in the 100 block of N. Pennsylvania St. (around the corner from the monument) in Indy.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Henry T. Hearsey opened this shop, which quickly became the hottest place for cyclists to gather. It had a showroom and featured the new rubber-pneumatic tires that bikes were finally sporting around town. In 1889, Hearshy introduced a bike with wheels that were equal in size<\/a> with a frame that was closer to the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In the 1890s, there were nearly 100-bicycling clubs in Indianapolis.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The clubs<\/a> were designed to include every socio-economic level and even male and female clubs. These clubs would spend time promoting events like “Centuries” (cyclists cover 100-miles in a day) and also organize to help protect cyclists’ rights. Just think, clubs of cyclists gathered together to advocate for better riding conditions for bikers all over the city!?!?\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The vision of cycling through the eyes of Arthur C. Newby.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Newby was an avid cyclist and had a major interest in turning Indianapolis into a biking Mecca of sorts. He helped found the Zig-Zag Cycling Club<\/a>, and in 1890, invested in a chain company for bicycles. We know this as Diamond Chain, but before this most bike chain was manufactured in Europe. Even more fascinating, Diamond chains were used in the first flight for the Wright brothers in 1903<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

” in 1898 he (Newby) built a quarter-mile board track with steeply banked sides where top cyclists from every corner of the globe would compete at top speeds for fame and glory. The arena had 20,000 seats that were often full of anxious crowds who would watch the races with bated breath. Newby’s Oval was hailed as one of the fasted tracks in the nation and attracted spectators from around the world.” — Untold Indy<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Along with various partners, Newby joined two others in building an even bigger track in 1909, now known as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway<\/a>. The first race at the speedway was a motorcycle race. The first car race was in 1911 and is still held today as an annual tradition known to most of us as the Indy 500.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

All this time, Hoosiers believed we were the racing capital of the world in motorized vehicles (yes, we still are that too) but who knew it started with a bike. Big thank you to the retired “Untold Indy” editors for giving us the background for this piece, we hope we give it a new reach by writing about it again.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Did you know that Indianapolis was once known as one of the leading cities in bicycle… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83,128,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-indianapolis","category-indianapolis-history","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3VuuR-40L","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16242,"url":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2021\/10\/15\/celebrating-lost-legacy-that-makes-indianapolis-americas-gateway-city\/","url_meta":{"origin":15423,"position":0},"title":"Celebrating Lost Legacy that Makes Indianapolis America’s Gateway City","author":"awakeagainmartin@gmail.com","date":"October 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"When world class unicyclist, Eddie Moffat and Martin Krieg ride to Columbus next Spring, besides showing what that change to our cross country route looks like, they will also be showing how Indianapolis shot itself in the foot. In 1902 when it dismantled its old wood covered National Road Bridge\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/245764373_3022225101398515_3741507177928208508_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/245764373_3022225101398515_3741507177928208508_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/245764373_3022225101398515_3741507177928208508_n.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15456,"url":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2020\/07\/14\/why-i-work-to-establish-indy-as-gateway-to-west\/","url_meta":{"origin":15423,"position":1},"title":"Why I work to Establish Indy as the Gateway to West","author":"awakeagainmartin@gmail.com","date":"July 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"NBG Newsletter Excerpt (a **draft**) -\u00a0 [..] By showing it as the transportation leader it long has been, from its once having had, by far, the largest interurban street car system in the world, to its train station being the first to bring all rail travel to one hub, to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "How Indy Built America"","block_context":{"text":"How Indy Built America","link":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/category\/how-indy-built-america\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Screen-Shot-2020-07-14-at-10.33.18-AM.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13707,"url":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2018\/10\/26\/city-market-1886-with-bicycle-garage-indy\/","url_meta":{"origin":15423,"position":2},"title":"City Market 1886 with Bicycle Garage Indy","author":"awakeagainmartin@gmail.com","date":"October 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"At Market St. and Alabama,\u00a0dating back to as far as\u00a0 1821,\u00a0\u00a0this part of town is where fresh food was sold. The sheds from which the various meats and produce items from nearby farms were made available for purchase were replaced in 1886 by one of many\u00a0 German constructions that shaped\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Indianapolis Cultural Trail"","block_context":{"text":"Indianapolis Cultural Trail","link":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/category\/indianapolis-cultural-trail\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-11-11-at-1.40.37-PM.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-11-11-at-1.40.37-PM.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-11-11-at-1.40.37-PM.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-11-11-at-1.40.37-PM.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17951,"url":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2025\/07\/26\/nbg-indianapolis-history-index\/","url_meta":{"origin":15423,"position":3},"title":"NBG Indianapolis History Index","author":"awakeagainmartin@gmail.com","date":"July 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Athenaeum (Das Deustsche Haus) Built 1893 Bicycle Stair Ramp at the Athenaeum Boston based Sasaki Associates Transformation of the Indianapolis Riverfront! Cadillac Co. of Indiana\/Automobile College Carl Fisher\u2019s original bike shop on Pennsylvania Ave Carl Fisher saturated Indianapolis with the Eagle HiWheel Indianapolis and the Nation, the Houses that Carl\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Indianapolis History"","block_context":{"text":"Indianapolis History","link":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/category\/indianapolis-history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13159,"url":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2018\/05\/31\/coast-to-coast-transportation-history-timeline-from-how-indianapolis-built-america\/","url_meta":{"origin":15423,"position":4},"title":"Coast-to-Coast Transportation History Timeline from How Indianapolis Built America","author":"awakeagainmartin@gmail.com","date":"May 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"1795 First ferry, a pirogue, crosses Mississippi River into what is now St. Louis 1803-1806 Lewis & Clark (33). 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