Across Oceans, Across Time® …. Sports for Sport’s Sake

Earlier this year, the Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn, Iowa received an 1898 Columbia bicycle from the great niece of the first owner, Samuel Sherman Thompson (shown here with his bicycle).

The bike is a Columbia Model 49, racing model, and made by Pope Manufacturing in 1898. The seat, though now repaired with tape, is original as are the cork grips on the handlebars and the rubber on the pedals. The donor’s father Duane maintained the bike in good working order until he could no longer find the single tube tires needed for the 28″ wood rims.

Samuel Thompson was born in the United States in 1883 to Danish immigrant parents Chris and Sarah Ellen Thompson who settled in central Iowa near Ankeny. Eventually, Samuel gave the bicycle to his nephew Duane Thompson, the donor’s father. Duane rode it for years, and later it carried two of his daughters to and from country school in northeast Nebraska. When the donor moved to Cedar Rapids, the bike went with her.

Pope Manufacturing Company, founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1877, formed a joint venture with Weed Sewing Machine Company in Hartford, Connecticut the following year to build bicycles. In November of 1878, in Hartford, the first bicycles were created. The Model 45 was a men’s bicycle.

This 1898 Columbia is a nice compliment to the 2005 Danish-made Principia racing bike donated two years ago. The Principia bicycle was ridden by Lars Rasmussen, a reporter for TV2 in Denmark, as he made his way across the United States in 2012. During his ride, he reported on the American political campaigns and election.

One of his stops was Elk Horn, Iowa, where he toured the museum and visited with staff. Following his return to Denmark, Rasmussen donated the bike and it arrived just in time to be on display as RAGBRAI, the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, passed through Elk Horn.

Both bicycles will be included in the 2016 exhibition, currently titled “Sport for Sport’s Sake.” Opening in April, this show will feature many different sports and areas of recreation that Danish immigrants and Danish-Americans have participated in, as represented by artifacts in the museum’s collection.

 The Museum of Danish America 

Celebrating Danish roots and American dreams!

2212 Washington Street, Elk Horn, Iowa 51531 – Become a member – Contact us: 1-800-759-9192 or http://www.danishmuseum.org or follow us on Facebook

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