Tom Monagan’s 1887 Gormully & Jeffery “American Challenge” bicycle, was made by the Pope Manufacturing Company.
Tom Monagan, Courtesy of the Dallas Historical Society
At the Texas State Fair in 1899, Monagan won the state cycling championship using this bicycle.
Monagan, an Irish-American living in Dallas, not only rode bicycles competitively but excelled in a variety of other sports as well. He played on the city football team, bowled, was an avid golfer, and even roller skated.
He was active in a number of clubs, including the Dallas Wheelmen, of which he was elected president in 1887. He organized and officiated numerous bicycling and sporting events throughout the 1890s and early 1900s. He also was active in social welfare organizations, serving as secretary of a relief committee in 1908. In 1919, he organized the exclusive Dallas Athletic Club, still in existence today.
Tom Monagan’s high-wheeled bicycle can still be seen in the Old Red Museum in downtown Dallas.
BIKE FRIENDLY DOWNTOWN DALLAS 