Bicycle Trip to Chicago
1891

KENNON BAIRD COLLECTION
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On June 25, 1891, members of the Helena Bicycle Club assembled on the north steps of the Lewis & Clark County Courthouse to wish bon voyage to George A. Gilpatrick (1869-1940) and Henry C. Dahncke (1866-1946), as the pair began what was to be a months-long bicycle expedition to Chicago and beyond.

Gilpatrick has been identified as the man on the left.

This photograph has been published in print several times, accompanied by text stating that Gilpatrick and Dahncke biked to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. They certainly pedaled to Chicago in 1891, but I find no contemporary references to a similar 1893 expedition.

Laudatory Illinois newspaper accounts from August of 1891 state that the duo began their journey from Helena on July 1, not June 25, and different dates for their departure appear in other newspaper items.


 


Members of the Helena Bicycle Club Identified

 

 

 

 

George A. Gilpatrick later became a stockman near Hilger, Montana, about 15 miles north of Lewistown.

Henry Dahncke, a native of Illinois, is listed in the 1910 federal census as living in Monon, Indiana, working as an agent for an unnamed pickle company. That company may have been Claussen, which was headquartered in Chicago.