Women Motorcyclists Pass Through Woodland Park

By Steve Plutt

Effie Hotchkiss and her mother Avis were pioneering motorcyclists who completed a 9,000-mile round trip from New York to San Francisco and back on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle-sidecar combination in 1915. And they passed right through Woodland Park.

Traveling over the Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway (now known as Highway 24), the ladies left Brooklyn on May 3, 1915 on Effie’s Harley-Davidson Model 11-F with a sidecar. Five weeks later, they passed through Woodland Park.

Miss Hotchkiss, 26 years old of slight frame, learned how to ride from her brother along with the knowledge of making any and all repairs if needed, but she reported that they had little trouble getting here.

They carried with them on the trip an automatic revolver, medicine kit, cooking utensils and an ax for firewood. They stayed in tourist camps along the way but did check in hotels on occasion.

This two month adventure was the very first transcontinental via motorcycle made by females, and they passed right through Woodland Park.

It took well over 100 years, but in October 2022, the American Motorcyclist Association posthumously inducted Effie Hotchkiss into its Hall of Fame.