wiley

Various sources seem to suggest that this is the start of a transcontinental bicycle race between New York and San Francisco. These two cyclists represented the Caribou Club. An article from the New York Times is here (dated May 4 1914): query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9807E... And this article records the departure of a second team: query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F03EFD8103CE6...

As the article says, this is at Murray Street--specifically at Murray Street and Broadway in New York City. The building on the left is New York City's City Hall. (John McComb Jr. and Joseph Francois Mangin, 1813; compare to this picture.) The darker-colored building on the right is the New York World or Pulitzer Building (George B. Post, 1890). It was the tallest building in New York City from 1890 to 1894, and was demolished in 1955 to make way for new entrance ramps onto the Brooklyn Bridge.

amphalon and epicharmus, thank you for the identifying information. We will update the source data and reload the description.

Correction: May 4, 1913 not 1914

quadmod: Thanks for clarifying the year--we'll make note of it!

Harvey Washington Wiley (October 30, 1844 - June 30, 1930) was a noted chemist best known for his leadership in the passage of the landmark Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and his subsequent work at the Good Housekeeping Institute laboratories. He was the first commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration. ... In 1912, Wiley resigned and took over the laboratories of Good Housekeeping magazine, where he continued his work on behalf of the consuming public. His disapprobation of "drugged" products included as the caffeine in cola drinks, against which he warned as vehemently as he would have against the cocaine they had once contained. In a famous action brought against the Coca-Cola company in 1911, he contended that it was illegal to use the name Coca-Cola when there was no actual cocaine in the drink, and also that it was illegal for it to contain caffeine as an additive. Perversely, this was as much as to say that the product ought to have contained cocaine and not caffeine. Still, the case was a landmark in developing standards for truth in labelling. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_W._Wiley

Thanks for Wiley's fuller name. We'll add it to the description next time we update the recors.

Hazen J. Titus became Northern Pacific's superintendent of dining cars in 1908. He introduced " The Great Big Baked Potato " and other regional items, see www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/hazen-titus-fruit-cake-tin... and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baked_potato In 1913, he suppressed the fingerbowls in the dining cars because they were unsanitary (The Daily Missoulian., November 08, 1913, Morning, Page 5, column 1)

A. D. Charlton was assistant general passenger agent of the Northern Pacific Railways, see e.g. The ranch., August 01, 1911, Page 14 (advertisement) Pullman herald., March 16, 1917, Image 1, "OPENING OF NEW N. P. DEPOT ATTRACTS TREMENDOUS CROWD", where he is mentioned together with H.J. Titus East Oregonian, July 27, 1908, EVENING EDITION, Page 8, column 5, "PREDICTS BIG WHEAT CROP"

George Ainslie: According to www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6918704, this was George Ainslie (1868 - 1931), Mayor of Richmond, Virginia from 1912 to 1924 (at least there is this photo of him). But there are other photos of him in the newspapers, p.e. in The times dispatch., August 23, 1912, Image 1 or The times dispatch., April 29, 1914, Image 1 and I think it's another person. His wikipedia entry: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Ainslie_%28Virginia_politici... Another George Ainslie was Congressional delegate from Idaho Territory, which would make sense, if the photo was in connection with the Idaho baked potato, but this man would be to old (he died in 1913, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Ainslie_%28delegate%29). The man on the photo could be a son of him, but that's only a guess.

See

I love those old white rubber tyres.

Bikes!

Fred J. Scherer and Walter Wiley. The first team in, the bicycle race from New York to San Francisco started at 1 P.M. yesterday from the City Hall. Source: New York Times; May 4, 1913 Website: query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9807E5D8173FE6...

An early bike tour... Later... www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/