tim1217

My great grandfather worked in the Featherstone factory back in 1900. Here's a picture. If you have a Featherstone (in any condition) please post a pic!

The Golden Boy 

That is a way cool picture!

Is your great-grandfather in the picture?

SteveSGP

That is incredibly cool, thanks for sharing!

tim1217

I guess I could try and be funny and say 'he's the one with the mustache!'. But seriously, based on other pics I have of him, he appears to be the third one from the left (the guy just to the left and behind the guy holding the wheel in his hand). I don't know what the total time of his tenure was, I just know he was there based on the 1900 Census which was taken on June 19th of that year (and he does not list that as his profession in either 1890 or 1910).

Featherstone was an independent company started in 1890 and in 1897 was proposed to be in the big 'bicycle trust organization' which wanted to control production and prices (obviously in the days before anti-trust). Then in 1899 it was finally acquired by the American Company (as part of a massive consolidation and I believe the originator of the planned trust 2 years earlier) but still continued to manufacture bikes under the Featherstone name. My dream of course is to some day own one!

seedsbelize 

Great pic!

Dfeatherstone

markwesti

From Pinterest

markwesti

New Old Stock

obrentharris 

I agree with "pictures or it didn't happen" but man, this picture needs some words!
Brent

markwesti

Got that off Pinterest also , I think it was American pickers that dug that up .

T-Mar

IIRC correctly, Featherstone's claim to fame was that they were the USA licensee of Dunlop's pneumatic tyre, which was purchased circa 1891, for $100,000.00 US. They leveraged that acquisition into becoming one of the premier bicycle manufacturers of the 1890s. Prior to that, the Chicago factory was producing primarily baby carriages, rocking horses and sleds. When the 1890s bicycle boom went bust, Alfred Featherstone sold the company to the fledgling American Bicycle Company in 1899, for cash and shares in the new company. ABC had been formed by industry giants Pope and Spaulding in attempt to resurrect the bicycle market, which was suffering a recession due to saturation that had been caused by under-priced bicycles as a result of excessive competition. ABC eventually took over and closed dozens of bicycle manufacturers, in an attempt to control the market. As one of the major acquisitions by ABC, Alfred Featherstone rec'd a directorship with the new company and the Featherstone premises continued to act as a factory and sales division for ABC. However, Featherstone's personal interests seemed to have drifted from the cycle industry to his growing stable of racing horses.

steppinthefunk