The Bellefontaine Bicycle Stone

Set into the ground here is a stone that once meant everything to a certain breed of Saint Louis sportsman. In nineteen twenty-two the Saint Louis Cycling Club erected this marker to commemorate the finish line of their annual Bellefontaine road race, a race first held in nineteen oh six. In the early decades of the twentieth century, road cycling was a serious competitive and social institution across American cities.

Club members would train for weeks, then race to this spot, the finish line. The club erected it with the cooperation of Henry Hoch and family. It is a small monument, but it preserves an entire sporting culture that the automobile would soon make obsolete.