My Virtual Reading Room

(Matthew Algeo, "Pedestrianism: When watching people walk was America's favorite spectator sport")

Pedestrianism

We may think of baseball as America's national pastime, but in the 1870s and 1880s there was another sports craze sweeping the nation: competitive walking. Watching people walk was America's favorite spectator sport.

In the decades after the Civil War there was mass urbanization in the United States with millions of people moving into the cities. There wasn't much for them to do in their free time, so pedestrianism — competitive walking matches — filled a void for people. It became quite popular quite quickly.

Huge crowds packed indoor arenas to watch the best walkers walk. Think of it as a six-day NASCAR race ... on feet

These men were walking 600 miles in six days,They were on the track almost continuously. They'd have little cots set up inside the track where they would nap a total of maybe three hours a day. But generally, for 21 hours a day, they were in motion walking around the track.

(from Victorian History FB pg)