100 years ago: KU students ride bobsleds for one mile down Indiana Street

From the Lawrence Daily World for Jan. 16, 1911:

  • “The glaze of sleet which coated all brick pavements last night afforded perfect conditions for coasting. Immediately after supper the students began gathering on hill sides with bobs, and by 9 o’clock the avenues were crowded with swiftly flying sleds. Several bunches of university students gathered on Indiana street with twelve foot bobs, where they proceeded to get away at a 30 mile clip for a full mile’s coast. From Hancock to Elliott is eight blocks, and flexible bobs make the distance in two minutes. Today a great deal of complaint has been registered with the police, and tonight cops will be stationed on hill streets to forbid the sport. There is a great mob of school boys out with small sleds today, and have congested these streets until it is dangerous for street cars, automobiles, and vehicles to cross at intersections. A score of accidents have been narrowly averted and if the coasting is permitted to continue a serious mishap is certain to follow.”
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