America's First?

AMERICA'S FIRST?

Who built the first American motorcycle? It apparently wasn't Harry A. Miller, as Allan Girdler speculated in "The Miller Mystery"

(CW, March, 1996). According to Dr. Paul F. Johnston, curator of transportation for the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., the earliest known American motorcycle was built at least six years before Miller was born. In a letter to the magazine, Dr. Johnston wrote, "A steam-powered velocipede now in our collection, it was constructed by Sylvester Hayward Roper of Roxbury, Massachusetts, and exhibited at fairs and circuses in 1869, so we believe it was built that year or slightly before. Incidentally, its handlebar also incorporates a twistgrip (throttle forward/brake back), predating Girdler's attribution of that feature to Glenn Curtiss by well over a quarter-century." The Roper is currently on exhibit in the Smithsonian's Road Transportation Hall.