Tag Archives: history

Thorness: Celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Lake Washington Bike Path

Posted on June 10, 2022 by Tom Fucoloro

The Lake Washington Bike Path turns 125 this year! Or it would if it weren’t torn up in 1905 to build Interlaken Boulevard. Bill Thorness, author of “Cycling the Pacific Coast” and “Biking Puget Sound,” wrote a story for the … Continue reading →

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On this day in 1949: The Green Lake path split open during a major earthquake

Posted on April 13, 2022 by Tom Fucoloro

In researching my book, I came across this photo from April 13, 1949 showing large cracks in the Green Lake path. The 7.1 magnitude quake was centered between Tacoma and Olympia, but it caused significant damage at far at Oregon … Continue reading →

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Without waiting for outer loop path due this summer, Parks Department issues ‘long-term temporary’ ban on bikes at Green Lake

Posted on March 28, 2022 by Tom Fucoloro

Without waiting for SDOT to complete its “outer loop” bike connection around Green Lake, the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation banned biking from the popular lakeside trail. “This long-term temporary use restriction, which restricts all bicycles and other wheeled … Continue reading →

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Seattle’s first downtown bike path (1898)

Posted on October 11, 2021 by Tom Fucoloro

I am briefly emerging from my work on my Seattle bike history book to post this map I found buried deep in the archives of The Argus, a weekly Seattle newspaper co-owned by an early Seattle bicycle booster. It’s a … Continue reading →

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Watch: Searching for the 125-year-old Interlaken bike path

Posted on August 5, 2021 by Tom Fucoloro

In 1896, Seattle city crews and a group of volunteers worked together to build a bike path from downtown to Lake Washington. They made it quickly, following the terrain around the north end of Capitol Hill to find the easiest … Continue reading →

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From the beginning, Seattle ‘jaywalker’ stings were used to arrest poor people

Posted on January 5, 2021 by Tom Fucoloro

In the decade between 1924 and 1934, the number of people dying in traffic collisions in Seattle each year increased 250% from 48 to 121. About 70% of those killed were people walking. By the end of the 1930s, Seattle … Continue reading →

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Berger: 20 bike shops on 2nd Ave and plans for bike paths all over the city? Welcome to 1900 Seattle

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Tom Fucoloro

Crosscut’s Knute Berger has started a series about urbanism in Seattle with a piece exploring the first bicycle boom in the city. Around the turn of the 20th century, bicycling was so popular that an estimated 10,000 of the city’s … Continue reading →

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International Women’s Day reading: Bicycles and equality

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Tom Fucoloro

Anne-Marije Rook wrote up a little post on her blog about women and bicycling in honor of International Women’s Day. If you have never read about the link between bicycles and women’s sufrage and social equality, I’d say now is … Continue reading →

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Biking around Seattle in the 1890s

Posted on August 11, 2010 by Tom Fucoloro

With the help of Phyllis Franklin from the Museum of History and Industry, the P.I.’s Big Blog has a great little history of biking in Seattle (click the link to see an awesome photo): You think bicycling is challenging in … Continue reading →

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