Toll gate # 6 at Chester Puke and Hook Rd. about 1920, you are looking west.
THE BICYCLE WAR
NOTE; Chester Pike aka the Telford Road was a toll road between Chester and Darby until June of 1921 when the state purchased the road. Beginning in the mid 1890's bicycling was a very popular mode of travel. Everyone rode a bike and there were bike clubs, locally and nationally. The Chester Bicycle Club took on the Telford Road Company because of it's high price 6 cents to go from Chester to Darby and the poor condition of the road which was always in the local papers. The article below is from June of 1897.
THE BICYCLE WAR
The
Organized Wheelmen Are Fighting the Telford Road
The L.A.W. Will Also Act
The war which the Chester Bicycle Club has inaugurated against
the Chester and Darby Telford Road promises to spread through all of the
cycler’s organizations and it is said that the League of American Wheelmen will
shortly issue a bulletin taking cognizance of the alleged unfairness of the
company toward wheelmen. The Chester
Bicycle Club, until this year, paid the Telford Road Company an annual fee of seventy-five
dollars and in consideration of this fact all members of the cub were
privileged to ride on the pike without paying toll at the six tollgates. This was very convenient to the members and
the pike was used a great deal by the wheelmen of this city and by the visiting
clubs which rode to Chester during the cycling season. But this year the officers of the Telford Road Company
concluded that it was worth at least three hundred dollars to the Bicycle Club
to have the privileges of the pike, and so raised the figures of the annual
charge to that amount. The bicycle
people had expected to pay an increased rate, as the membership of the club has
increased, but were staggered when they learned that this year’s rate was to be
four times the amount paid last year.
The club very promptly decided not to pay what they considered was an
outrageous charge and determined to get along as far as possible without using
the pike.
The fight will not end here, however, as the bicycle
clubs in Philadelphia and the great national organization, the League of
American Wheelmen, have taken the matter up and all members will be warned of
the high toll rates charged on the pike.
It is said that the new map of the State wheel routes, issued by the
L.A.W. and which is authority for cyclers everywhere will show the route to
Chester by way of the Island Road to Moore, and thence to Ridley Park by the
Lake Road and to Chester from Crum Lynne by the pike. This will necessitate passing only one
tollgate on the pike and will save wheelmen five cents toll each way. The result will make quite a difference to
the Telford Road Company if the wheelmen carry out the war, as a great deal of
revenue was derived from bicycles, and this has been constantly increasing.
The Island Road has been put in splendid condition by the
supervisors of Tinicum Township and as it is very nearly level, wheelmen say
that it is much more pleasant than the Telford Road. By way of Penrose Ferry, this road connects
with the smooth asphalt of Broad Street, Philadelphia and makes a very fine
bicycle road.
The officers of the Telford Road Company
say that they raised the charge on the bicycle clubs because they found by investigation
that the members used the pike sufficiently to warrant the charges they have
made. In addition to the members, a
great many others undoubtedly rode through the gates and by shouting “Chester”
eluded the gatekeepers. Now that no
clubs are given special privileges, all wheelmen are stopped and dishonest
riders have little chance of being successful in avoiding the toll. The Telford people do not think the war will
make any very great difference in the receipts of the road, as they say that
the smooth surface of the pike is so enticing to wheelmen that they will ride
that way whether the clubs boycott the road or not.
WOMEN WILL ASSIST –
A representative of the Women’s
Bicycle Club of this city which now numbers eighty members, says that an effort
will be made to enlist the cooperation of all women riders to use their effort
for the adoption of a new road between Chester and Philadelphia. “We have paid our amount this year,” she
said, “but next year we shall contribute this money toward the above
object. Each one of us is willing to pay
one dollar for the establishment of the new route, so that the turnpike road
will be boycotted.”
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I only recently learned that pre-marriage my great-grandfather Charles Palmer was in the Chester Bicycle Club--and as a lawyer, I believe he was involved in this situation!
ReplyDeleteNote: typo "Chester Puke" which you might want to change but which made me laugh!