The Pedestrianism Rage May Have Created The First Female Athletic Superstars
It was seasonably cold, with temperatures hanging in the 20s, as thousands of spectators poured into Cincinnati’s Exposition Hall on Monday morning, 14 February 1876. Once inside, the crowd packed into the stands to watch five days of . . . walking.
Yes, walking. For a couple of decades in the Nineteenth Century, walking was a major spectator sport, attracting huge crowds and, this being the age when everyone bet on baseball, it attracted huge wagers, too. Cincinnati’s Exposition Hall, replaced just two years later by Music Hall, was the largest indoor arena in the city at the time. It swelled to capacity for a sport, all but forgotten now, that was awarded the elevated name of pedestrianism. Participants were pedestrians or, on this particular occasion, pedestriennes.
The pedestriennes in question were Millie Rose of England and Anna Mattice, a Canadian. Although she billed herself as “the champion female pedestrian of America,” Rose’s biggest walking feat to-date was walking 500 miles in 500 hours in Indianapolis the year before. She was inspired to stage the Cincinnati race when, earlier in the month, she inserted herself briefly into a six-day walking match in Chicago between Bertha Von Hillern and Mary Marshall. Marshall won that race, logging 233.9 miles to Von Hillern’s 231.5, and claimed a $500 prize. Rose saw dollar signs. Exposition Hall, according to the Enquirer [15 February 1876] had all the trappings of a major event:
“An excellent sawdust track has been laid in the main Exposition Hall, and the place is warmed with good stoves. A band of music is in attendance, and everything is orderly and decorous.”
After five days of perambulation from 2:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., Millie Rose covered 207 miles, while Anna Mattice tallied only 185 miles. The purse went to Rose, but both women competed in other races throughout the country for the next several years. The Enquirer [19 February 1876] saw the race as a victory for equality of the sexes:
“This is a wonderful record for women walkists, and would do credit to many male professional pedestrians. Quite a large crowd of respectable people were present to see the end of the contest.”
Pedestrianism as a curiosity and as an amateur sport had been around for centuries. As walking took on a professional dimension, many newspapers pointed to Jonathan Swift, author of “Gulliver’s Travels,” who, in the Seventeenth Century, bragged about his skill as a perambulator. In the United States, the sport really took off after a 27-year-old Boston bookseller named Edward Payson Weston wagered that Abraham Lincoln would lose the 1860 presidential election. Lincoln won and Weston honored his wager by walking from Boston to Washington, a distance of 478 miles, in 10 days to attend Lincoln’s inauguration.
The trek garnered so much publicity that Weston pursued walking as a new and very remunerative career. As a world-famous pedestrian, Weston walked throughout Europe and made several appearances in Cincinnati, most notably in 1871 when he failed on three attempts to walk 113 miles in 24 hours at the Union Grounds in the West End.
In November 1875, Weston and Irish-born Chicagoan Daniel O’Leary astounded the sporting world by walking for six days straight. O’Leary ultimately claimed the honors by logging 503.3 miles to Weston’s 451. O’Leary also enthralled Cincinnati audiences on several occasions, notably in June 1878 when he walked 220 miles in a little over 55 hours at the Pavilion atop the Price Hill Incline.
When pedestrienne Bertha Von Hillern appeared in Cincinnati she usually presented a lecture on “her exemplification of health” in addition to displaying her walking skills. Von Hillern walked only in exhibitions, competing only against herself and time, never in competition with other pedestrians and absolutely never for wagers. She earned her reportedly substantial income from ticket sales and endorsements. During one visit, the Cincinnati Gazette [18 December 1878] carried an advertisement for “Giles Liniment Iodide Ammonia” noting that Von Hillern “bathes freely” with it.
Von Hillern and her colleagues were among the very first athletic role models for women, and attracted crowds of admirers wherever they appeared. The Cincinnati Commercial [25 January 1878] described the electrifying effect of Von Hillern’s visit among Cincinnati women:
“Ladies, wherever Bertha goes, begin to straighten themselves up, and to feel the muscles of the calves of their legs. If she causes women, even temporarily, to go out doors and view the beauties of nature on foot, then heaven speed her, though she is walking for money. The ladies’ walking club here have pledged themselves to eat an oatmeal breakfast, put on a loose, light Bloomer walking dress and take a long walk in the country at least three times a week.”
Another pedestrienne, Ada Anderson, had no qualms about competing against other walkers, whether men or women, but made a point of cultivating fandom among her female devotees. She was a fan favorite, creating quite a show in addition to setting walking records. At most of her performances, Anderson would sing a song or two, accompanied by the orchestra, during breaks. And, if she saw any man in the audience dozing off as she made her rounds, she would smear a bit of charcoal or lampblack on his face. During one of her several appearances at the Highland House, Anderson, according to the Enquirer [21 April 1879], spoke exclusively to her feminine fans:
“She addressed a few words specially to the ladies, in which she said she more particularly desired their attendance, as she liked to have women around her, and she liked to have them see what a woman could do.”
Although several Cincinnatians tried their hand (or feet) at pedestrianism, it doesn’t appear that any locals found their way to national stardom. A Cincinnati bookkeeper, a Covington rolling mill laborer, and a couple of young men from the Cincinnati gymnasium made appearances, but if any walked away with prize money, it is unrecorded. Perhaps the most colorful local pedestrian was a Middletown native. According to the Enquirer [15 May 1880]:
“Chris. Putz, the eccentric individual – hybrid Gypsy-Indian – who created such a sensation on the streets the other day, decorated with ribbons and feathers, a semi-barbarous pedestrian habiliment just well fitting him, and sparse enough to display a wonderfully well made form, which admits of no doubt that the brilliant performances claimed for our eccentric friend are at all imaginary.”
Almost every possible venue in Cincinnati, whether suitable or not, hosted pedestrian events at one time or another, from the hilltop resorts on Mount Adams, Price Hill or Bellevue, to a beer garden on John Street, to Geyer’s dancing academy studio, to an immense canvas tent at 12th and Vine, to a new opera house on the Canal at Vine, to a Walnut Street hotel. Cincinnati just couldn’t get enough of watching people walking. And there was money to be made. According to the Enquirer [2 January 1879]:
“The profits of pedestrianism are again brought to public notice by the printed assertions that O’Leary pocketed $10,000 or $12,000, and Campana $2,000 in last week’s contest. In his walk two months ago with Hughes, O’Leary was said to have made $7,000, while in his Chicago tramp he and Weston divided $18,000. Multitudes are paying to see Miss Anderson in Brooklyn, and Miss Von Hillern and Miss Von Berg, who for a year have walked in cities and villages, from one ocean to another, draw many spectators.”
