I was poking around on the Library of Congress' old newspaper site and decided to see when bicycles were first mentioned in a DC newspaper. The first reference in their available papers is from February 9, 1869. It is part of a space-filling list of interesting facts and the fact is this:
It has been demonstrated out West, that women can ride the bicycle velocipedes by wearing bilegular garments.
There you go ladies. Thanks to some enterprising scientists you can now enjoy your bicycle velocipedes with the aid of bilegluar garments.
The first mention of "velocipede" goes back to 1838, and then it was the name of the first steamboat to navigate the Sabine River. The first mention of it as a bicycle-type device is from an February 1849 advertisement for a Ware Room on Pennsylvania Avenue near 9th Street that sold an assortment of items including Velocipedes.
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