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Albert Pope Biography

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POPE, Albert Augustus (1843-1909). An American manufacturer, born at Brookline, Mass. At the beginning of the Civil War he enlisted in the Thirty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry and at its close was brevetted lieutenant colonel. He then engaged in selling shoe manufacturers' supplies and in 1877 founded the Pope Manufacturing Company, which made small patented articles. It was in this year that Pope first imported bicycles, and in 1878 he began to manufacture them himself, being the American pioneer in the industry. During the tremendous popularity of bicycling Pope made a fortune, but later, when he tried to manufacture automobiles in response to the change in public favor, he was not so successful; indeed his company went into the hands of a receiver in 1907. He was particularly active in the movement for better roads.