Cycling in Boston 1880-1970

[DebW]

Talk at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation in Waltham on Dec 5th at 7 pm. Historian and author Lorenz Finison will cover more than a century of cycling history, focusing on a few local hotspots—Boston, Cambridge, and Waltham. Topics will include racing, touring, commuting, bikeways, rails-to-trails, bike-trains, bike building, women's cycling, the Tour de Trump, and more.

Finison will feature Kittie Knox, star character from his book, Boston’s Cycling Craze. 1880-1900 (2014). The cycling world immune to prevailing prejudices allowed Knox, a young bi-racial seamstress, to break the color line and challenge gender norms. She was well known in Boston (and Waltham) during the 1890s, and then largely forgotten, as cycling slid into the shadows of the automobile, until it came back in the Renaissance of the 1970s. Finison will feature this revival as well—the topic of his new book, Boston’s Twentieth-Century Bicycling Renaissance.

Admission is free but advanced tickets required (follow link).

https://www.charlesrivermuseum.org/e...mgn2OdbJwbiR-w

I plan to be there. I met the author a couple years ago when he lead a history ride around Waltham - saw where an outdoor cycling track used to be, among other high spots of cycling history.

DebW

[Crankin]

I have heard him speak before and he is great.
The book is good, too.