A Brief History of Bikes in Glens Falls, New York
Yesterday, I spent time in the City Historian’s office, manned by Wayne Wright. He started as a Glens Falls City Clerk in the 1990’s and began the City Historian’s office in 2000. Given his educational background in history, he has a lifelong passion for preserving, collecting, and exploring the local history. And his expertise and incredible work in Glens Falls allowed me to start to delve into the history of Glens Falls myself.
After emailing and finding a time to meet, I visited his office and was at awe of the among of books surrounding the walls and floor. Boxes of books and papers were piled near the ceiling, with various descriptors and dates. He led me to a small desk, with a simple coffee maker in the corner and stacks of old city charters, codes, and addendums throughout the years. And without much hesitation, I began to flip through the pages.
In a large book from 1959, I stumbled upon Section 86, instilled into law from Common Council meetings from June 25th, 1958, to August 26, 1959. It was titled, “An Ordinance Regulating the Registration and Use of Bicycles within the City of Glens Falls.” It drilled down the rules and regulations for how the city, at the time, oversaw bicycling, almost similar to how the DMV oversees cars. It was incredibly fascinating, and I will help explain a little history and reprint the text if you are interested.
It begins with the issuance and renewal of the registration process, including the fees:
Section 1, Registration Required.
It shall be unlawful for any person over the age of (ten) years, to operate or use or permit to be operated or used, or rent for use, any bicycle upon any of the public highways, streets, avenues, parks or public places in the City of Glens Falls without first obtaining therefor a registration certificate from the Chief of Police.
Section 2, Issuance of Registration.
(a) The Chief of Police is hereby authorized and directed to issue, upon written application, bicycle registrations which shall be effective for one year. Any such registration when issued shall entitle the person to operate any bicycle for which said registration has been issued upon all the public highways, streets, avenues, parks and public places, exclusive of sidewalks in the City of Glens Falls.
(b) Each applicant for said registration shall obtain from police headquarters of the City of Glens Falls the form of application prescribed by the Chief of Police. Completed applications, with the required fee, shall be filed at police headquarters and the police department shall inspect the bicycle to determine that is is in a safe mechanical condition. The police department shall also examine the applicant as to his or her knowledge of the vehicle and traffic laws of the State of New York applicable to bicycles, traffic signs, and signals. The Chief of Police may refuse to issue the registration if the applicant’s bicycle is found to be in an unsafe mechanical condition or if the applicant fails to pass the aforesaid examination or for other causes. The police department shall keep records of the action taken with respect to each application and registration of the denial, suspension or revocation thereof.
Section 3, Registration Tags.
(a) The City of Glens Falls shall provide each year metallic registration tags together with registration certificates or cards approved by the Chief of Police. Said metallic tags and registration documents shall have numbers stamped thereon in numerical order beginning with number one and indicating the calendar year for which the same are issued, after approval of the application and the payment of the required fee. The tag shall be kept firmly attached to the bicycle during the valid term of such registration.
(b) All persons engaged in the business of renting bicycles for hire shall be required to obtain a metallic tag and registration certificate or card for each bicycle used for hire.
Section 4, Registration Fee.
The annual registration fee to be paid for each bicycle tag shall be twenty-five (25) cents.
Section 5, Transfer of Registration.
It shall be the duty of every person residing in the City of Glens Falls who sells or transfers ownership of any bicycle to report such sale or transfer by returning to police headquarters the registration issued to such owner together with the name and address of the person to whom the bicycle is sold or transferred. Such report shall be made within five days of the date of sale or transfer. It shall be made within five days of the date of sale or transfer. It shall be the duty of the purchaser or the transferee to apply to police headquarters for registration thereof within five days of the date of said sale or transfer. Issuance of such registration shall be subject to all other applicable provisions of this ordinance. A fee of twenty-five (25) cents shall be paid for each such transfer.
Section 6, Expiration and Renewal of Registration.
Every registration shall expire on the thirty first day of December next after its issue. Upon or within thirty days prior to the expiration of any bicycle registration the same may be renewed upon application and payment of the same fee as upon an original application.
Section 7, Revocation or Suspension of Registration.
The Chief of Police may at any time for violation of any of the provisions of this ordinance or for such cause as the Chief of Police deems sufficient, suspend or, after a hearing, revoke any registration issued pursuant to the provisions of this ordinance.
One of the many things that stuck out to me was the reliance on the local police department to oversee the mechanical operation and operator knowledge prior to registering for a license. While bicycles are easier to understand than the complexities of cars and trucks, it baffles me that the police were responsible in this process. Today, police are responsible for lots of things, as the “Defund the Police” movement from 2016 illuminated; from dealing with gang violence, drug dealers, drug possession, theft, homelessness, prostitution, domestic violence, road safety, overseeing protests, and more. All of those issues were still relevant in the 1950’s, so adding another layer of oversight must have been tough for the local police.
The “Defund the Police” movement did shine a spotlight on potential solutions that are still underfunded and underutilized, dating back decades. Drug treatment programs along with decriminalization and regulation of drugs would allow citizens to avoid the legal system when using recreational drugs. More access to mental health services and social workers would allow at-risk individuals to get the help they need without bothering the overworked police officers. Affordable housing, job placement services, and more educational opportunities would reduce thefts, homelessness, and gang violence in society, allowing citizens to feel empowered to improve not only their lives but everyone in society.
If those initiatives and programs were to be strengthened, a bicycle regulation program could work without over-exerting the police. While the bicycle regulations were abolished in 1967, if reinstated, it would be the perfect anecdote to the bicycle incidents in Glens Falls the past couple years. There have been several stories in the Chronicle and Post-Star local newspapers highlighting incidents involving teenagers (and some young adults) causing issues with motorists with unsafe cycling behavior. A system to register your bike not only would help curb potentially harmful behavior but alleviate any potential bicycle thefts as well.
The registration fee mentioned, at a measly 25¢, was rather interesting. According to an inflation calculator, the fee would cost $2.78 today which is still shockingly low. This law was certainly not meant to raise revenue for the city but to ensure safety for all vehicles on the road.
The next section concerns a broad range of conditions upon registration:
Section 8, Conditions of Registration.
(a) Any person operating a bycycle [sic] shall obey all official traffic control signals, signs, and other control devices applicable to vehicles, unless otherwise directed by a police officer.
(b) Every person riding a bicycle upon a public highway shall be granted all of the rights, and shall be subject to all of the duties, applicable to the driver of a vehicle by the laws of this state declaring rules of the road applicable to vehicles, or by the traffic ordinance of this City applicable to the driver of a vehicle.
(c) A person propelling a bicycle shall not ride other than astride and seated upon a permanent seat attached thereto.
(d) No bicycle shall be used to carry more persons at one time than the number for which it is designed and equipped.
(e) Every person operating a bicycle upon the roadway of a public highway shall ride as near to the right-hand side of such roadway as practicable, and persons shall not ride more than two abreast.
(f) No person shall operate a bicycle upon at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent under the conditions then existing
(g) No person riding upon a bicycle shall attach the same or himself to any vehicle upon a roadway
(h) No person operating a bicycle shall carry any packages, bundle or article which prevents the rider from keeping at least one hand upon the handle bars
(i) No person shall park a bicycle upon a public street other than upon the roadway against the curb or upon the sidewalk in a rack to support the bicycle or against a building or at the pedestrian traffic
(j) Every bicycle on a public highway shall be equipped and maintained in compliance with Section 79 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law of the State of New York
Section 9, Penalties.
Every person violating any provision of this ordinance may published by the impounding of such person’s bicycle for a period not to exceed (10) days
Possibly the biggest highlight that stood out to me was the realization that bicyclists and motorists operated together on highways. That sounds insane, given that our current highway system has speed limits up to 65 miles per hour. But after a cursory search from historical data, the “highways” that we know in today’s world were not the same as in 1958. The speed limit was limited to half that speed, and car ownership was not as prevalent as it is today. It was probably relatively normal to see sights of bikes and cars moving together along the road, just like today at a much smaller scale.
I giggled at the spelling error at the first condition, as the city clerk failed to realize the typo when spelling out bicycle to bycycle. I left the spelling intact when I transposed that section above. I also giggled at the two instances of prohibiting multiple people to be on the bike at once, imaging the scene from Steven Speilberg’s ET when Elliot has the alien in the bike basket. Even though the movie came out after this law was abolished, I can imagine a deleted scene, if Elliot was caught, being given a ticket for carrying another person on the bike illegally. Or maybe it would be ok since ET is an extraterrestrial?
The condition that insists that the rider not carry any package or item that prevents the use of one hand on the handlebar instantly made me think of a paperboy on his or her route. I wish I could go back in time to listen to the council discussion about adding that condition to ensure the local paperboy can do their job safely. That thought has a certain old-timey charm to it.
The next sections illuminate a crucial detail about whom this regulation is not enforced:
Section 10
Provisions of this ordinance shall not apply to children under the age of eleven (11) years.
Section 11, Effective Date.
This ordinance shall take effect August 15, 1958.
I imagine, back in 1958, it was a rite of passage for a 12-year-old to get a bicycle license to ride their bike around town. It is the opposite effect to today’s requirement to limit driving privileges until 16-years-old. Granted, driving a car and riding a bike are two entirely different vehicles with huge disparities in complexity.
The last section, which is the only remnant of this law that still exists, concerns riding a bicycle through a cemetery:
Section 12, Prohibition.
No person shall operate a bicycle, tricycle, velocipede or other vehicle propelled by foot or hand power within the limits of the Glens Falls Cemetery.
Any person violating this ordinance shall be subject to a fine of not less than $5.00 and not more than $10.00.
While the fine is a lot higher today at $250, this section was put into Chapter 77.17, dealing with bicycles in cemeteries. Though I have not heard of an instance of police ticketing (or catching someone) bicycling in the local cemeteries.
This law did not last long, as it was abolished around 1967 [Correction: I am researching when the law was abolished, as I found out from my neighbors that it was still around in the 1970’s and 1980’s]. But it is a fascinating look into how the city of Glens Falls, back in the 1950’s, tried to instill bicycle safety. I think, given the growing enthusiasm for bicycling, the rise in bicycle thefts, and the potential for bike accidents, a system of registration could prove useful for any city. Will the local police department like to add to their growing repertoire of responsibilities, or will this law just fade into history? Only time will tell.
