Dang! I got it wrong then. Maybe that was the clicking? I had never thought about it until I went to put the wheel on. I didn't look at the wheel that had been on the bike (slick tires.. so I couldn't look at the tread pattern either.) I just thought the front wheel is symmetrical... no dish so I assumed that it really didn't matter which way I had the hub facing (it spins both ways.) I didn't see any instructions saying how it should go on. I tried to search the forums. I looked at the Sheldon Brown site... nothing. How would a person know this?

I'm glad it's real simple to tell on the rear wheel! Mine isn't a singlespeed or a fixie (it has a 9 speed shimano cassette) but when I did my search, my "symptoms" brought me to this forum. So, thanks for the help. (I'd still like to know how you know that or where you learned it.)