Wednesday, July 29, 2009


On this date in park history, Tricyclefetish.com identifies the make of Richard Hand's trike shown in a 1940s photo taken at the entrance of Rock Springs Park. It was a Colson chain drive tricycle.

The story from an earlier blog post:

In July of 2009, Tish Hand sent me a picture of her husband, Richard K. Hand, riding a tricycle near the entrance to Rock Springs Park in the 1940s. My immediate thought was that it must have been very cool to grow up in an amusement park and have the opportunity to ride all along the winding paths and roads of the 11-acre property, but as I studied the photograph I noticed that “Dickie’s” trike had a chain drive rather than the pedals attached to the front wheel like the one I rode as a kid. I began to wonder what kind of tricycle it was and looked on-line to see if I could find the name.

Dickie Hand (left) and Jim Wilson (right). This photograph is from Sherry Emery’s collection. It shows the same tricycle pictured in Images of America Rock Springs Park p. 74. (Courtesy of Sherry Emery)

I soon discovered a brand new website where people post pictures of themselves on their childhood trikes and inquire about the brand, the worth, etc. The website is a blog entitled “Tricycle Fetish”. According to Wikipedia,“fetishism” is the act of “attributing religious or mystical qualities to inanimate objects.” I mean, I liked my trike as a kid, but come on! But as I read over the blog, I soon realized that these guys knew their stuff, so…

I never thought I’d say it but, “Thank you Tricyclefetish.com!”