03/16/2026
To continue celebrating groundbreaking women in transportation, today we’d like to share the stories of two Western New Yorkers who made history on bicycles.
Louise Bethune, née Blanchard, was born in 1856 in Waterloo, NY. At age 11, she began attending school in Buffalo. A few years after she graduated, she was offered an apprenticeship at the office of Richard Waite, a prominent architecture firm in the city. In 1891, she opened her own architecture firm in partnership with her husband, Robert Bethune. She became the first female member of the Western Association of Architects and the American Institute of Architects, and was the founder of the Buffalo Society of Architects. Her most well-known project locally is the Lafayette Hotel, which was completed in 1904. It is reported that Louise Bethune owned the first women’s bicycle in Buffalo, purchasing it in 1891 at the price of $150. She was also a founding member of the Buffalo Women’s Wheel and Athletic Club, which was the second women’s bicycling club to be founded in the United States. At its peak, the club had 60 members, but was disbanded in 1897.
Caroline Kiner, also known as Elsa Von Blumen, was born in Pensacola, Florida in 1863. A year later, she moved to the Albany, NY area with her parents, later moving to Oswego. The cold New York winters were not kind to Caroline, and she developed the beginning stages of consumption (tuberculosis). Due to her failing health, she undertook a rigorous exercise routine consisting of walking long distances and lifting weights. Around 1881, she moved with her sister and mother to Rochester, NY where she made her first appearance as a “pedestrianne”, or competitive walker. She won her very first race, a 100-mile “walkathon”, against her male competitor. She was married for a short time to Emery Beardsley, obtaining a divorce after his disappearance. After retiring from competitive walking, Von Blumen took up the sport of high wheel bicycle racing. She often participated in stunts involving racing against horses or endurance rides lasting hundreds of miles. She gained national fame for her feats of cycling, even participating in a 6-day race at Madison Square Garden against other female cyclists. After the high-wheel cycle craze ended, she retired home to Rochester. She married Will Roosevelt, a Civil War veteran, and after his death married Will’s brother Isaac. The brothers were distantly related to President Theodore Roosevelt, who Caroline recalled meeting while he was police commissioner in New York City. A news article written decades after her death in 1935 recounted that she “deplored the popularity of the automobile because it made people forget how to walk.”
Seen in the images below are Elsa Von Blumen on her high wheel bicycle, along with articles from the Buffalo Evening News, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, and Ontario Repository-Messenger. Additionally, a photo of Louise Blanchard Bethune with her bicycle (courtesy of the University of Buffalo), and snippets from the Buffalo Evening News.
Stay tuned to our social media channels for more Women’s History highlights! The museum will be open for special hours Friday, March 20, 2026 from 11am to 4pm.
