Category: Blog posts

by Tom Ewing Fifty years ago, when the Tour de France finished on the Champs-Elysee for the first time, Americans could read about the final stage from three distinguished foreign correspondents. Their articles on the events of July 19, 1975 illustrates the potential of foreign correspondents to bring unique stories and thoughtful perspectives about the…

By Grace Kostrzebski Davy Getz, while walking through the woods, was being watched – not by an animal, but by Union soldiers. During the fall of 1864, the Union army and Confederate army fought in small skirmishes in the Shenandoah Valley as both armies fought to control the key state of Virginia. Getz, who was…

by Tom Ewing July 3, 2025 Uncle Sam riding a bicycle has been a recurring symbol of patriotism, identity, and technology for more than a century. While Uncle Sam consistently represents the United States, the bicycle itself has a more complicated meaning that usually involves some combination of speed, efficiency, and direction. Recognizing these complicated…

by Tom Ewing June 26, 2025 During America’s Gilded Age, bicycle parades emerged as events connecting communities to the new and fashionable form of transportation technology. In the summer of 1897, a widely circulated newspaper article drew attention to the “Parade of the Four Hundred,” featuring representatives from the elite spending their summer in Newport,…

By Grace Kostrzebski Pope Leo XIV recently welcomed cyclists racing the Giro d’Italia into Vatican City with a speech, saying “Cycling is very important… Thank you for everything you do, and be true role models.” The route for the race has always passed by or through the Vatican, and this year’s route passed through the…

by Grace Kostrzebski The first Africans arrived on the shores of the American colonies in 1619. Most arrived enslaved with a smaller number arriving as indentured servants. However, even as enslaved people or indentured servants, Africans and African Americans were able to attain their freedom – albeit in small numbers. Yet as the population of…

May 29, 2025 By Tom Ewing Fifty years ago, math teacher Julius J. Bitter rode to and from his school everyday, a thirty mile roundtrip, from his home in Sylvania to Perrysburg. According to a widely circulated profile in Ohio newspapers, Bitter praised the mental benefits of bicycle commuting: “You can see more of the…

May 22, 2025 By Grace Kostrzebski Just three weeks after the bloody conflict at Lexington and Concord, the separation of the American colonies from the British Empire continued with the convening of the Second Continental Congress on May 10, 1775. The pitched battles with the British soldiers were cited as evidence that the American colonies…

By Tom Ewing May 15, 2025 The increased commitment to addressing bicycle safety in the 1970s included recommendations to designate bike lanes in urban areas. In Washington DC, the so-called “mystery cyclist” contributed to these efforts by taking the initiative to mark bicycle routes along a major route for commuters. The “mystery cyclist” was first…

May 8, 2025 by Tom Ewing On May 10, 1869, the ceremonial hammering of the golden spike in Utah marked the completion of the transcontinental railway system across the United States. In the decades that followed, rail networks connected people and communities across the country as well as more closely within regions. A map of…