1895-96 | Luce's Park Track | Healdsburg
Page last updated June 17, 2026.
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Unfortunately, no photographs or illustrations of the Luce's Park Track have yet to be found.
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Hannah Clayborn was executive director of the Healdsburg Museum from 1979 to 1993. During that time she wrote more that 20 historical articles of Healdsburg and the surrounding area. She wrote a very informative article of the history of the Healdsburg Wheelmen, Bikers Become Outlaws: the Healdsburg Wheelmen. Within that article is a section titled "The Wheelman Meets" which recounts the history of the Luce's Park track.
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This webpage includes many of the same articles but expands on the history of the Luce's Park track.
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Note, an earlier version of Hannah Clayborn's feature of the Healdsburg Wheelman is in the Russian River Recorder, Spring 1987.
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The Healdsburg Tribune, April 27, 1893 article is a reference to the desire for a cycling club to be formed in Healdsburg as early as 1893.
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The Healdsburg Tribune, March 22, 1894 article shows a club has yet to be formed in 1894.
1895
Still, in early 1895 there is no cycling club for Healdsburg according to the Healdsburg Tribune, March 28, 1895.
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Finally, soon thereafter, on April 7 1895 a bicycle club is organized. The Healdsburg Tribune, April 8, 1895 also indicates a bicycle track is proposed.
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The Healdsburg Tribune, April 11, 1895 article has slightly more information about club officers (the bugler) and other members.
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The San Francisco Call, April 20, 1895 article further broadcasts the Healdsburg club news.
The Referee, May 17, 1895 contains one of the earliest bicycling journal references to racing at Healdsburg. However, there is no further evidence of this race meet so it likely did not take place. Especially, given the publicity for the upcoming, initial race meets at the Luce's Park Track.
The Healdsburg Tribune, August 8, 1895 article places a call out to the Healdsburg Wheelmen to come to the "Luce's race track for the purpose of establishing club records".
The Healdsburg Tribune, August 15, 1895 has a very good summary of the opening day race for the Luce's Park Track. The race was held on Sunday, August 11, 1895. There are many interesting pieces of information: "but the track being new was not so fast", "Over five hundred people went out to Matheson's Park to witness the sport" and "before the boy's race was started he offered the victor a small-bore rifle" and many more.
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There are some references to Matheson's Park but the most common name used is Luce's Park.
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There is also a half mile race held and it is said "he got around the track in 1:16 4-5" which implies the length of the track is a half mile.
The Healdsburg Tribune, September 12, 1895 has a very good summary of "The Second Meet" for the Luce's Park Track. The race was held on Sunday, September 8, 1895.
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Again, there are many interesting points in the article. One of which is a remark about the "one-mile handicap between Chas. Bond and Lou Goldman, the latter being given 90 yards." indicating "It took 4 minutes lacking 1 3/4 seconds for Bond to get around the track twice". That reinforces that Luce's Park Track is a half-mile track.
The San Francisco Call, September 10, 1895 also has an article about the "The second race meet held under the auspices of the Healdsburg wheelmen... at Luce's Park".
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This article cites a crowd of 1500 people, the earlier Healdsburg Tribune article cited 1000 spectators.
The Healdsburg Tribune, October 3, 1895 has yet another very good race summary, this time of "The third and conclusive meet of the Healdsburg Wheelmen's Club held Sunday at Luce's track". The race was held on Sunday, September 29, 1895.
Note, all three races hosted by the Healdsburg Wheelmen at the Luce's Park Track were held on Sundays. This scheduling would run afoul of the L. A. W.'s policy against racing on Sundays.
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The Healdsburg Tribune, October 24, 1895 article announces the L. A. W.'s suspension "for the time being" of the riders who raced in the September 29th meet at Luce's Park Track. It also makes clear the intentions of the local wheelmen are to ignore the suspensions. However, if the suspended racers tried to race in a L. A. W. sanctioned race elsewhere, they would likely be denied.
The two articles below describe off-season fundraising efforts for velodrome improvements.
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The Healdsburg Tribune, November 7, 1895 article states the fundraising purpose is to "build its own race course and construct what will be necessary for good meets and the accommodation of spectators."
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The Healdsburg Tribune, December 5, 1895 article has more details about the Christmas night masquerade ball which is to raise funds for "the purpose of building a good race course and maintain it during next season for county and local meets."
1896
1896 begins with more fundraising news and activities for the Healdsburg Wheelmen.
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The Healdsburg Tribune, January 2, 1895 article indicates $100 in profit from the Christmas night masquerade ball.
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The Healdsburg Tribune, February 20, 1895 article seems to say another fundraising event was held in mid February.
The articles below are about the construction of the new track at Luce's Park.
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The fifth paragraph of the San Francisco Call, April 15, 1896 article briefly mentions the "new three-lap track at Luce's Park". This means the track itself was reconstructed from a half-mile (two-lap) track in 1895 to a third-of-a-mile (three-lap) track prior to the 1896 race season. There is no further information about track width or banking.
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The Healdsburg Tribune, March 26, 1896 and Healdsburg Tribune, April 23, 1896 articles mention construction of a grandstand and other structures.
The Referee, May 7, 1896 piece shows a national cycling journal is interested in publicizing the news of new tracks.
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A couple of the articles announce the opening races of the 1896 season are to be held on "May 7 and 8, during the Healdsburg flower festival" or at "the big carnival".
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The Wheel, April 24, 1896 indicates a L. A. W. sanction is in place for May 7 and 8, 1896. Note, those race days land on a Thursday and Friday, not a Sunday, as was the preferred day for all the 1895 races.
The Healdsburg Tribune, April 30, 1896 and San Francisco Call, May 4, 1896 articles provide some pre-race publicity and information about the upcoming races at the Luce's Park Track.
Here's a brief race day announcement in the Healdsburg Tribune, May 7, 1896 about the racing to be hosted that day and the next by the Healdsburg Wheelmen.
The May 7 race meet at the Luce's Park Track is well summarized in the San Francisco Call, May 8, 1896 and Sonoma Democrat, May 9, 1896 articles.
The Referee, May 7, 1896 article also provides a very brief summary of the racing at Healdsburg.
The San Francisco Call, May 9, 1896 article describes the May 8 races at Luce's Park Track in Healdsburg.
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There is no more racing news found for 1896 at Luce's Park Track.
1897
In early 1897 there is publicity about a "Winter Circuit" of races to be held in February, throughout Northern California, as described in The Referee, February 4, 1897 article.
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However, there is no information about a race at Luce's Park Track ever happening in February of 1897.
The Cycling West, February 6, 1897 has an even more detailed description of "What promises to be the greatest cycling event ever held in the history of the Pacific Coast."
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Again, Healdsburg is mentioned as stop on the circuit but there is no evidence that occurred.
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It's interesting to note the article indicates "Healdsburg is a half mile, usually in very good condition." The Healdsburg track was reconstructed as a third-of-a-mile track in early 1896.
There is no mention of the Healdsburg Wheelmen in 1897 and beyond. The Healdsburg Tribune, August 5, 1897 article points to a new cycling club "known as the Healdsburg Cyclers". From the article, it looks like this may be a road-oriented club.
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There is no mention of the Luce's Park Track or a bicycle racing track in Healdsburg after the early 1897 articles immediately above.
Location
There are a number of references that locate Wheelmen's Park on the site of what was previously "Athletic Park" or the "old baseball park owned by John McNear". No references of the location of Athletic Park were found.
The Petaluma Historian says "McNear converted an old baseball stadium he owned on the city's east side (now the site of the Petalulma Public Library) into Wheelman Park." The Petaluma Public Library is on the corner of East Washington St. and Payran St. in East Petaluma.
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The red triangle in the 1894 loc.gov map of Petaluma below is located at Washington St. and Payran St. The red triangle area is expanded in the next section.
This image is the red triangle in the larger scale Sanborn map above. It shows the buildings of the Agricultural Park horse track. The horse track is not shown but it is located to the right and little above the buildings. It is depicted further below.
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Of note in this 1894 loc.gov map of Agricultural Park buildings, is the half-mile long box stalls structure and the two story front grandstand. It's possible that the front grandstand was for the baseball park, Athletic Park.
Below is a current Google Map of the area (38.241583, -122.628119) of East Washington St. and Payran St. (or Vallejo St.) in East Petaluma.
Current Google Map of the area of East Washington St. and Payran St., current site of the Petaluma Public Library.
CHECKLIST:
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mention that there are NO PICS of this track. two illustrations though??
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make sure to doc the track specs in para, someplace.
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make sure to Note where other tracks are mentioned for CONTEXT!
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review each writeup and the archive item to make sure the details of the archive item are touched upon in the writeup
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review to make sure the Links are ALL GOOD!
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review to trim pics if necessary.
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HIDE this section.