M. Strauss Bicycles, Buffalo — 1896 | Framed Print

M. Strauss Cycle Dealer, Buffalo, New York — 1896
The "999" — Named After the Fastest Machine in America

A museum-quality framed print of an original 1896 letterhead from M. Strauss Cycle Dealer in Buffalo, New York — a steel-engraved portrait of one of the city's most ambitious bicycle operations, at the peak of the greatest consumer craze America had seen. Includes a companion postcard with QR access to a fully narrated audio story.

The story

In 1896, Buffalo's bicycle boom was at full speed — and M. Strauss was building a machine named after the fastest locomotive in America.

At 160 Genesee Street, in the heart of Buffalo's German-American commercial district, Strauss ran one of the city's most ambitious cycle operations. He sold new and second-hand bicycles, handled repairs, and offered nickeling and enameling — electroplating and custom color finishing that turned a standard machine into something personal. Under his own name, he manufactured a bicycle he called the "999," borrowing the name from a New York Central locomotive that had broken the world land speed record at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Buffalo had seventy-nine bicycle manufacturers by the turn of the decade. Strauss was not content to be one among many. By early 1896 he was developing a wholesale supply circular for sub-dealers and repair shops across Western New York, sourcing components from manufacturers as far as Connecticut and producing illustrated catalogs designed to compete with the major Chicago houses.

This letterhead dates to February 17th, 1896. It is a business letter, written in Strauss's own hand, at the height of the craze.

The art is not inspired by history. It is history.

Every image in The Ephemera Collective began as a real artifact. This one was created by a master engraver over 130 years ago, long before computers or any digital tools, at a time when the main instruments of design were a skilled hand, a steel plate, and time.

The bicycle illustration at the top of this letterhead is a period engraving of Strauss's own "999" model — drop bars and all. It was printed directly onto his business stationery, the calling card of a man who took his product seriously enough to put it at the top of every letter he sent. Pulled from the archive, not conjured from a prompt.

The story doesn't stop at the frame.

Every print ships with a QR code that unlocks a full narrated audio history — researched, written, and produced by Chronicles & Color. Scan it, and in about three minutes you'll know who M. Strauss was, what Engine 999 meant to a city obsessed with speed, why the bicycle was called "the freedom machine," and what happened to Buffalo's boom when the automobile arrived.

How it feels to own this.

This is not only decoration. It's a conversation starter — the kind of wall art that stops guests in their tracks and invites the question: 'What's the story behind this?'

And now you have the answer — researched, documented, and narrated in full. This is a boutique piece, only available from Chronicles & Color, from a collection you won't find on a shelf at any big box store or scrolling through an online marketplace.

Who this is for.

This piece is for people who collect experiences, not just objects.

For those who furnish their homes with intention — who want their walls to tell stories, not just fill space.

For history lovers who appreciate craft. For design enthusiasts who value authenticity. For collectors who know the difference between mass-produced prints and archival artifacts restored by hand.

For the cycling enthusiast who knows what the safety bicycle meant to America in 1896 — and wants that story on their wall.

For anyone who believes a home should feel curated, not ordered from a catalog.

And for the gift-giver looking for something genuinely rare.

The details.

Own a piece of the story.