Vintage Western Union Delivery Bicycle, old, antique, collectable

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Vintage Western Union Delivery Bicycle, old, antique, collectable:
$500.00

I\'m told that throughout the 1970\'s, delivery bikes were used by Western Union to deliver telegrams.This bike has 26\" wheels and is sized for an adult or older boy.The bike is in rideable condition but there is plenty of rust present. The tires are in good shape. One spoke is broken.The signsare made of painted plywood held in place with leather straps andstove bolts. The age and manufacturer of the bicycle is unknown.

I prefer local pickup but will pack and ship it but all costs will be paid for by the purchaser. The shipping costs listed are only an estimate. Suggestions on shipping from the buyer is appreciated.

Shippingto the lower 48 only.

Below is a history of Western Union Bicycles

Telegraph boys (also referred to as district messenger boys, telegraph messenger boys, or simply as messenger boys) were uniformed young men between 10 and 18 years of age who carried telegrams through urban streets. In most areas they used bicycles; in some dense areas they went on foot. Unlike the men in the telegraph office who worked indoors on fixed wages under close supervision, enjoyed union benefits, and managed the electrical transfer of information, telegraph boys worked outdoors under no supervision on piece wages, saw no union benefits, and managed the physical aspect of the industry in the form of handwritten or printed paper messages.

Boys reported for work in the morning clad in their uniforms and awaited their assignments, receiving payment by the mile. Though some chose to travel by foot, bicycles were required for distant destinations. John Dickinson of Dallas, Texas accumulated more than 16,000 miles between April and September 1916. Western Union bought 5,000 bicycles a year and resold them to their telegraph boys nationwide at a discount. A local fleet might number from one to three dozen or more.[3] Companies were responsible for providing uniform laundries, locker rooms, assembly halls, and classrooms.

A typical bike messenger, Birmingham, Alabama, 1914

In the call-box system developed in 1872, a customer would \"ring\" the telegraph office for a messenger who would then speed to the customer\'s door to pick up a handwritten message and return to the telegraph office to have it sent electrically to its destination.[4]

The life could be dangerous. Boys were expected to \"scorch\" their bicycles in urban traffic. Strikes occurred with messenger boys cycling en masse to keep scabs from being hired. Boys attended continuation schools on a four-hours-per-week schedule rather than the 36-hour schedule of public schools. During slack times, the telegraph office hid the boys from public view in basements and back rooms where they smoked, read penny dreadfuls, and shot craps. Weekends or evenings might involve taking part in uniformed military drills before the public. At night, the boys might be required to enter the red light districts in connection with their job duties.[4] The demand for telegraph boys fell when companies began reading messages over the telephone.[3]

In the autumn of 1913, bicycling telegraph boy Robert Crawford of Washington, D.C. collided with a car carrying President Woodrow Wilson. The President sent his personal physician to attend Crawford. Later, he visited the boy in the hospital and presented him with a new bicycle. \"I did not know it was the President\'s car that I ran into,\" the boy said. Wilson replied, \"I rather thought it was the President\'s car that ran into you.\"[3]