The first Goodyear factory opened in Akron, Ohio, in 1898. The thirteen original employees manufactured bicycle and carriage tires, rubber horseshoe pads, and poker chips. The company grew with the advent of the automobile. In this image, an Akron & Barberton Belt steam train switches cars at Goodyear’s east Akron factory.
Founded in Akron in 1870 as Goodrich, Tew & Co. by Dr. Benjamin Franklin Goodrich. The company name was changed to the “B.F. Goodrich Company” in 1880, to BFGoodrich in the 1980s, and to “Goodrich Corporation” in 2001.
Quaker Oats mills looking down Akron’s busy Howard Street. The Flatiron building is seen here towering above the Interurban streetcars.
Local residents collected 13,600 dollars to encourage Goodrich to move his plant from New York to Akron. At this time, no other rubber manufacturers existed west of the Appalachian Mountains. Goodrich opened his Akron plant, the Akron Rubber Works, in March 1871. Goodrich first employed twenty workers. The plant made numerous items but focused on…
Mills of the Quaker Oats Co. can be seen in the background of this postcard. The former CA&C/Railway Express Agency station is in the foreground. A railroad boxcar is being loaded on the team track at the right of the image. The image was taken from the mill street bridge over the city’s main railroad lines.
The factory was located at Sweitzer and Cole Avenues in Akron, Ohio. B. F. Goodrich purchased the company in 1930 and continued operations there until 1957.
Built and previously owned by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation, later Goodyear Aerospace, the massive Airdock was constructed in 1929.at a cost of $2.2 million.
In 1896, seven cars entered America’s first automobile race held on a track – it was the five-lap “Providence Horseless Carriage Race”. To the awe of 60,000 spectators, the Riker Electric Trap No. 1, using Diamond Rubber Company tires, took home the checkered flag. The car averaged about 20 miles per hour.
Firestone had its origins in the rubber city. Founded in1900, the company started operations with just 12 employees. Together, Firestone and Goodyear (also an Akron company) were the largest suppliers of automotive tires in North America for over 75 years. In 1906 Henry Ford chose Firestone for Model T original equipment tires.
Early view of the Quaker Oats Factory on Howard Street in Akron, Ohio. This postcard view also shows wonderful examples of period advertising. Billboards include Akron’s Famous Heaters, and S&G’s Portage Brand Coffee & Tea. On the Left side of the street is a sign for McClains.
Started in 1894 under the name Sherbondy Rubber Company, In 1896 the company changed its name to the Diamond Rubber Company. Diamond Rubber was founded by famed industrialist Ohio C. Barber, president of the Diamond Match Company.
In 1912, after several years of success, the Diamond Rubber Company was merged into competitor B. F. Goodrich.
The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company founder Harvey Firestone, had a personal friendship with Henry Ford, and used this to become the original equipment supplier of Ford Motor Company automobiles, and was also active in the replacement market.
Founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling, Goodyear manufactures tires for automobiles, commercial trucks, light trucks, motorcycles, SUVs, race cars, airplanes, farm equipment and heavy earth-mover machinery. It also produced bicycle tires from its founding until 1976.
In 1869 Benjamin Franklin Goodrich purchased the Hudson River Rubber Company, a small business in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. The following year Goodrich accepted an offer of $13,600 from the citizens of Akron, Ohio, to relocate his business there.
In 1894, O.C. Barber tried his hand in the rubber industry. Barber brought in a rubber chemist named Arthur Marks to assist him in this new endeavor. And so the Diamond Rubber Company was born. The company became an early leader in tire manufacturing. Baber soon made a handsome profit by selling the company to…
The American Cereal Company was founded in 1891. Among the company’s founders was Ferdinand Schumacher. During the 1880s, Schumacher operated the F. Schumacher Milling Company in Akron. Hoping to reduce competition, he agreed to merge with several additional companies to create the American Cereal Company. The company’s main product was oats used in cereal.
Founded by Edwin Kelly and Arthur Grant in 1894, the company was originally called the Rubber Tire Wheel Company because it made rubber carriage wheels. In1896 Arthur Grant was issued a patent (US 554675) for his solid rubber tire in a rim channel. The tire was held on the wheel by two longitudinal wires embedded…
In 1898, Frank Seiberling borrowed $3,500 from his brother-in-law Lucius Miles for the down payment needed to buy an abandoned strawboard factory on the banks of the Little Cuyahoga River in Akron, where he would found The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
Mistaken Identity The airship featured on this vintage Akron postcard was not the USS Akron ZRS-4. Pictured here is most likely the USS Los Angeles. Misidentifying these airships was not a one time an artist made this ][mistake. On another popular postcard of the day, the USS Los Angeles is shown flying over Washington D.C., but she was…
Covering more than a million square feet and with thirty acres of floor space, Miller was one of the largest rubber factories in the United States. Miller Rubber Co. manufactured Tires, Tubes, Accessories, Repair Materials, Drug Sundries, Bathing Wear, Shuglovs, Rubber Balls, Rubber Toys, and many other Moulded Rubber Goods.
B. F. Goodrich Company, major American manufacturing company of the 20th century, noted for its production of automobile tires and ruber products. In The Beginning In 1869 Dr. Benjamin Franklin Goodrich and his brother-in-law, Harvey W. Tew, purchased the Hudson River Rubber Company, a small business in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. The following year they accepted an…
The Philadelphia Rubber Works Co. was formed in 1910 after the merger of the Philadelphia Rubber Works, which had been organized in 1880, and the Alkali Rubber Co., which was started in 1904. The company manufactured reclaimed rubber.