After serving in the Civil War, Albert Augustus Pope organized in 1879 a company to manufacture bicycles, a venture which was to earn for him the title “the founder of American bicycle industries”. Following his highly successful bicycle ventures, Pope began to manufacture electric runabouts through the Columbia Electric Company in 1896. Within a few years, he controlled the Pope-Toledo, Pope-Hartford, and Pope-Waverly Companies. However, with auto success on one hand, Pope faced a crisis on the other in the form of a decline of his bicycle business, eventually forcing the Pope Manufacturing Company into receivership.