Colonel Pope
Colonel Albert Augustus Pope of Dorchester, Massachusetts, attended the 1876 Centennial exhibition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and fell in love with the penny-farthing, or British high-wheeled bicycle. He traveled across the Atlantic to learn more.
High Street
rusty old farmer's bike image by Yali Shi from
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Pope opened his Pope Manufacturing Company bicycle factory at 45 High Street in Boston in 1877 and sold his first bike, a high-priced $313 model.
Summer Street
Understanding that bikes, and their sales, languished without riders, Pope opened a riding school at 87 Summer Street in Boston in 1878, concurrently manufacturing his first Columbia bicycles at a Hartford, Connecticut, sewing machine factory.
Reorganization
Pope, who had moved into automobile manufacturing with limited success, died in 1909. The Pope Manufacturing Company filed for bankruptcy in 1915 from the new company headquarters in Westfield, Massachusetts. The Westfield Manufacturing Company, built from the remains of the Pope Manufacturing Company, formed in 1916.
Rebirth
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An independent Columbia Manufacturing Company split from Westfield in 1960, then filed for bankruptcy in 1987. The following year, local factory employees purchased Columbia and revived it.
