• The Cycledrome, a former bicycle racing stadium in Rhode Island, celebrated its 100th anniversary this year.
• The stadium, which was the largest bicycle track in the U.S. during the 1920s, was also home to the Providence Steam Roller, New England's first NFL championship team.
• The Cycledrome was demolished in 1934 and replaced by a drive-in movie theater.

Rhode Island was once home to an NFL champion team − and its state-of-the-art home stadium, the Cycledrome.

That's right, the first NFL championship won by a New England team was way back in 1928. The team was the Providence Steam Roller, which played in a bicycle-racing stadium called the Cycledrome located off North Main Street in Providence near the Pawtucket line.

And this year marks the 100th anniversary of the Cycledrome, which hosted its first cycling event on May 29, 1925, and officially opened June 2, 1925. It replaced the old Cycledrome in Cranston and, according to Art in Ruins, with a capacity of 13,000 spectators, it was the largest bicycle track in the country during the 1920s.

The history of the Cycledrome

According to a Small State, Big History article by Russell DeSimone, the Cycledrome was financed and developed by Peter Laudati, a sports promoter and real estate developer who was also part-owner of the Steam Roller.

It was located on the Providence-Pawtucket line, off North Main and Ann Mary streets, where an Ocean State Job Lot is located now.

Big-ticket events like the Golden Wheel, a 50-mile race, and The Race of Nations, a 30-mile race that attracted cyclists to Providence from Australia, Belgium, France, Italy and Sweden, were highlights of the Cycledrome.

The Providence Steam Roller football team played its games in the infield of the velodrome. According to the RI Sports Chronicle, the stadium "was snugly surrounded by a wooden track with steeply-banked ends which cut sharply into the end zones and reduced them to just five yards in depth. During football games temporary seating was permitted on the straight-away portion of the track which was so close to the field that players, after being tackled, often found themselves in the stands." 

Floodlights were installed in 1930. Other teams played there, including the Providence College football team, and professional soccer teams played league and national matches there. Boxing and wrestling events were held at the Cycledrome as well.

Once the Great Depression hit, bicycle racing nosedived in popularity. The Providence Steam Roller folded before the 1933 season. The Cycledrome was demolished, and Laudati built the E.M. Loew drive-in movie theater in its place. When the drive-in opened in 1937 it was only the third drive-in movie theater in the country. An old Providence Journal article notes that a building permit was issued to Laudati for the building of a stage for $3,000, and the total project cost − including grading of land, building ramps and installation of equipment − was projected at $50,000.

Bicycle racing was popular in the early 1900s

Bike racing was a big spectator sport here 100 years ago. Competitive riders would ride on a “cyclodrome,” an oval track with a pitch to it so riders would not fly off the edge. It attracted hundreds of spectators.

Men, women and children all enjoyed biking when wearing headgear meant a stylish hat rather than a helmet. Bike manufacturers even then had different designs for men's and women's bikes to accommodate the long dresses that female cyclists used to wear.

According to the Federal Highway Administration, "The bicycle was seen as a revolution in personal transportation that affected many aspects of life, especially in cities. Bicycle racing became one of the Nation's most popular sports. ... Bicycling changed fashions, affected politics, and created economic opportunity." 

How did the NFL come to Providence?

In 1925, the NFL was in its sixth season, a "fledgling hodge-podge league," said Greg Tranter, author of "The Providence Steam Roller: New England's First NFL Team." Pro football took a back seat to college football in those days and was a minor player on the national sports stage, which was mostly occupied by Major League Baseball and prizefighting.

Providence was among four expansion teams to join the league that year. "Providence was one of the first cities in America to industrialize," Tranter explained, pointing to the burgeoning jewelry and textile industries that were making Providence a wealthy place.

"In the mid-1920s, the NFL realized that it had to move to bigger, wealthier communities [to succeed]. Providence and the New York Giants joined the NFL in the same year. ... Providence beat the Giants at the Cycledrome for their first home win in the NFL."

The team was started in 1916 by The Providence Journal sports editor at the time, Charles Coppen, and his schoolboy reporter, Pearce Johnson, who became the general manager (which mostly involved making travel arrangements for the club). Coppen was also the manager of the Cycledrome, and when the possibility of a professional football team arose, he saw an opportunity to get more use out of that stadium.

Providence would play more home games than road games because the team drew so well. Other clubs wanted to come to Rhode Island because it meant a guaranteed paycheck, Tranter said.