19th Century Velodromes in SF
Unfinished History
Cartoon about "scorchers" (bicycles) from the turn of the 19th to 20th century.
In the 1890s there was a velodrome at the site of the former Southern Pacific Hospital on the NW corner of Fell and Baker. It opened in November, 1896 closed around 1898/99. By 1899 the Velodrome had been dismantled and the wooden track moved to the Olympic Grounds in the Sunset.
In the early 1890s there were "velodrome" races at Central Park at 8th and Market Street as well as at the Mechanics' Pavilion that was destroyed in the 1906 fire.
Other velodromes were located at 7th and Stevenson (most recently the Greyhound Terminal, now the new Federal Building at 7th and Mission) and the Valencia Gardens Housing Project.