19th century bicycling — House calls on two wheels?

Perhaps he made house calls on two wheels.

“Dr. C. E. Crandall is very much pleased with the new bicycle he purchased two weeks ago,” the Fort Edward correspondent reported in The Morning Star of Glens Falls on July 24, 1895.

A Fort Edward newspaper editor also took up bicycling.

“The senior editor of The Advertiser has caught the bicycle craze, and possibly may be seen almost any day in Harris Hall learning the intricacies of the of the silent steel,” The Morning Star quipped on Aug. 5. “Accidental insurance will be higher. It is also doubtful if the Advertiser will be issued this week.”

In other 1895 bicycling news collected from historic newspapers of the region:

• “Richard Milks of Albany arrived in town yesterday afternoon on his wheel, making the trip in five hours,” The Morning Star reported on July 15.
• “Several new ladies’ wheels have been purchased in town. A bicycle club has recently been formed,” the Salem correspondent report in The Granville Sentinel on July 19.
• “None of our lady cyclists have as yet adopted the regulation bloomers, but undoubtedly some will do so before the season closes,” the Fort Edward correspondent reported in The Morning Star on July 25.
• “The bicycle is fast coming into use as a vehicle of travel on our country roads. Some of our young men are becoming experts and enjoy rides and are frequently seen rapidly and noiselessly wending their way in the cool evening twilight,” the North Hebron correspondent reported in The Granville Sentinel on July 19.
• “For only one week’s practice in riding his wheel, John Sullivan did make good time to Glens Falls and return yesterday morning — twenty-five minutes,” the Fort Edward correspondent reported in The Morning Star on July 26.
• “Mrs. Sophia Wakeman, Miss Lizzie Monty, Miss Martha Murphy and Joseph Monty have returned from a bicycle trip in the Adirondacks. They were gone about two weeks and were the guests of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Howe of Titus Lake,” the Sandy Hill correspondent reported in The Morning Star on July 27.
• “Roscoe Crandall took a trip to Lake George yesterday on his wheel,” the Fort Edward correspondent reported in The Morning Star on July 29.
• “F. H. Pierce left on his wheel yesterday afternoon for Saratoga. He will go to Poughkeepsie today via boat to attend the meeting of the Evangelistic Committee, and then on the Chappaqua on his wheel to attend Purchase quarterly meeting, then to New York and Brooklyn and back to Poughkeepsie via in-land cycle route,” The Morning Star reported on July 30.
• “Mrs. Ella Thomas and Mrs. Robert Murray of Warrensburg rode down on their wheels Monday and called on Lake George friends,” The Morning Star reported on Aug. 3.
• “W. H. Ward and W. H. F. Hatch took a trip to Fair Haven Monday on their wheels,” the South Hartford correspondent reported in The Granville Sentinel on Aug. 2.

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