THE BUSHWICK WHEELMEN CLUBHOUSES (1894)
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The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations.
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When the cycling rage began in the early 1890s, Bushwick’s “wheel” enthusiasts joined together under the moniker, the Bushwick Wheelmen. It would not be long before, as with other clubs of the era, that the Wheelmen would find a club house of its own.
In 1894, the the club purchased its first Brooklyn clubhouse, No. 841 Lexington Avenue (which still survives), in today’s Bedford-Stuyvesant section.
“The Bushwick Wheelmen have fairly settled in their new club house, at 841 Lexington avenue,” noted the Brooklyn Citizen in 1894. “Their membership list numbers about one hundred, and the financial condition of the club is excellent.”
“An opening reception was held on Wednesday night and it proved a very enjoyable affair,” reported the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. “The club house was decorated and a large company of women were present.
“At 11 P. M. a collation was served.”
Throughout the next few years, numerous meetings, parties, and euchres were held in the 2-story wood-frame house.
Around 1897, the house was sold to a private family and the club moved its clubhouse to “the corner of Bushwick avenue and Harman street,” No. 897 Bushwick Avenue.
“It is situated in one of the choicest residential sections of the city,” said the Times Union. “The building is a three-story and basement structure, containing fifteen rooms and is surrounded by extensive grounds. The house is at present being refitted, altered and furnished throughout, and will be ready for the club to take possession on October 1.
“An interesting feature, and one pertinent to the subject, is the fact that the club is moving back to original quarters. The rear house, a 12 by 15 affair, was the first club house the Bushwicks boasted of. This was in ’91, and it was through the courtesy of Mr. T. Morgan, a charter member, and now manager of the club’s bowling team, that the parental consent was gained to utilize the barn for meeting purposes.
“It is, therefore, with a sense of extreme satisfaction that the club, after six years of existence, now grown to a healthy and prosperous body, returns to the scene of its early struggle.”
This second Bushwick Wheelmen club house no longer exists and by 1907, with cycling no longer a hot commodity, the Bushwick Wheelmen organization was no more. The group did continue to meet a few years after its dissolution at a yearly reunion. In fact, the wheelmen all continued to sing a song (“With a heartiness that exhibited how much the words were appreciated”) at their reunions called “Old Bushwicks.”
(Tune of “The Old Oaken Bucket.”)
“How dear to our hearts are the scenes of our wheel days,
When fond recollections recall them to view:
We forgot then our troubles, didn’t care then for pay days,
Only good time, is all that we knew.
The Bergers, Geo. Hellawell, and good old Grabowsky,
Big Bucken and Jim Brown have all moved away.
There’s Jacobs and Ruddy – the Fausts and Chris Murray,
And Seitz, Freddy Mauch and more we could say,
Here’s to the Bushwicks, the staid good old Bushwicks,
The gran old club “Bushwicks” which we all loved to be.”
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