Thomas Edison Films Harness Racing in 1897
We stumbled across this in the Library of Congress, it’s a video by Thomas Edison filming a harness race in 1897. The video is titled ‘Free-For-All-Race at Charter Oak Park” and is dated July 31, 1897.
What was harness racing like at that time?
In July 5, the same month as this was filmed, Charter Oak Park (in California) recorded its largest ever crowd (PDF link) estimated at between 25,000, and 30,000 people. (Yes, those are really people in the background.)
That day on July 5, John R. Gentry attempted to become the first pacer ever to break the 2 minute mark, which was eventually set by rival Star Pointer in August of 1897.
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