It may be unrecognizable today, but the one-time importance of Howard Street can easily be seen in this postcard view as it appeared looking South from Market Street. Busy people, cars, horses with carts, and trolleys fill the scene outside Federman’s “Lowest Price Store” in Akron.
For 40 years, visitors to Silver Lake Park were never at a loss for things to do. Steamboat cruise on the lake, miniature train rides, a roller coaster, a merry-go-round, and a midway all added to the excitement of a day at the park. There was even a pavilion with space for 500 dinners as well as a 15,000…
A streetcar is seen ascending the Mill Street Viaduct as it leaves downtown headed over the city’s main rail lines. At the right can be seen the Cleveland Akron & Columbus freight shed.
In 1874, Ralph H. Lodge bought Silver Lake (all the land covered by water but no land around it) for $1,300. The next year, Lodge bought 35 acres of land at the South West corner of the lake. Prior to Lodge’s investment, a tribe of Seneca Indians summered at the South end of Silver Lake…
This beautiful piece of architecture was the city’s high school. The school was located on Forge Street, between College and Union Streets, facing Union Park. It was first established in 1857, but the pictured building was erected in 1885 at a cost of $135,000.
The University of Akron was founded as Buchtel College in 1870 by the Ohio Universalist Convention, which was influenced by the financial support of industrialist John R. Buchtel.
A Shelter in the Time of Storm.
Construction on the first building was completed on March 1, 1915. Akron’s new Peoples Hospital struggled financially in its early years. The institution relied heavily on donations, volunteer hours, and donated medical supplies to stay afloat.
The elegantly appointed dining room in the Portage Hotel.
The Strand Theatre opened on September 2, 1915 with “The Island of Regeneration”. The theater had seating for more than 1200 patrons. It was demolished in 1990.
WADC broadcasting studios located in the Towell Cadillac Building. WADC first broadcast as a temporary station for a 1925 car show at the Central Garage. The call letters were derived from the show’s sponsor, the Automobile Dealers’ Company. After the show ended, Allen Simmons, owner of the Allen Theater, bought the equipment and obtained a…
A testament to just how fast automobiles has grown in popularity, this massive parking garage was constructed in 1919.During the Cold War, the Central Garage was designated as one of 32 downtown air-raid shelters.
For much of the early 1900’s, the Summit lake area of Akron was among the most picturesque in the city.
It began as a dream by Boniface DeRoo, a Dutch immigrant whose will provided approximately $10,000 for the establishment of Akron’s first hospital. More than nine years elapsed after DeRoo’s death in 1883 before a group of 12 men organized the City Hospital Association. The association purchased the Bartges Homestead in 1892 and opened the…
On December 31, 1870, Goodrich formed the partnership of Goodrich, Tew & Company with his brother-in-law Harvey W. Tew and a group of Akron investors. After completing the construction of a two-story factory on the banks of the Ohio Canal, Goodrich was in business as the first rubber company west of the Allegheny Mountains.
At 1,175 feet long, 325 feet wide, and 211 feet high it is no understatement to say the airdock is massive! There is 364,000 square feet of unobstructed floor space, or an area larger than 8 football fields side-by-side. The Airdock has a volume of 55 million cubic feet.
Built during World War II, the multi-million dollar Research laboratory of The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, located on Goodyear Boulevard in Akron.
Akron’s Glendale Cemetery was established in 1839 by Dr. Jedediah D. Commins.
Postcard view of Akron’s Main Street from Market Street looking south. Founded along the Little Cuyahoga River in 1825 by Simon Perkins and Paul Williams, the location of Akron carefully and strategically planned at the summit of the developing Ohio and Erie Canal.
“The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company is one of the largest rubber factories in the United States. Good year produced more than 110,000,000 tires since 1898. It employs thousands of people. The annual Payroll is over $43,000,000. Goodyear is the largest producer of auto tires and rubber heels in the world. 110,000,000 tires linked together would…
