The “irrepressible” Ben Fletcher was the first to ride a bicycle in Detroit 150 years ago on December 18th, 1868. He rode a French-built velocipede that weighed around 100 pounds along Jefferson Avenue near Woodward. The Detroit Free Press colorfully reported the milestone and predicted that before long, bicycles will be “as plenty as carriages in the streets” – and they were correct.
However, this new mode of transportation caused a public outcry. Through this point in history, there had been no major cause to build good roads. Pedestrians had sidewalks, the streetcars had rails, and automobiles had not yet been invented. Horses could slog through the mud and dust.