Montgomery Ward Bicycle

We've all heard stories about how people had to walk five miles to school in any kind of weather. Hiram B. Dickson was not one of those people. He rode his bicycle!

Dickson grew up on a farm south of Admire, Kansas, in Lyon County. He purchased this bicycle in 1934 from the Montgomery Ward & Co. catalog for $34.00. The money came from the sale of pigs that he'd raised for a 4-H project.

He rode the bicycle to school for four years in all kinds of weather. A metal bracket attached over the back tire carried his books and lunch pail. They were tied down with an inner tube from an old bicycle tire.

In the 1950s, after Dickson had married and was living in Topeka, the bicycle was put to use yet again. His two sons, Richard and Kenneth, used it to deliver the copies of the Topeka Journal. They added a basket to hold newspapers.

Dickson is pictured riding his bicycle on the day he donated it to the Kansas Museum of History in 2002.

Return to the latest Cool Things.

Check out the Cool Things Archive.