Born in Ripley, New York in 1841, Benjamin Franklin Goodrich pursued an education in medicine and served as an assistant surgeon in the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War. After the war, Goodrich pursued a career in business and entered into a real estate partnership with John P. Morris of New York City. In 1869 the partners found themselves investors in a small operation called the Hudson River Rubber Company. They soon acquired full ownership of the company and Goodrich took over as its president.
