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.
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.
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.
The Goodyear company was named after Charles Goodyear, a self-taught chemist and the inventor of vulcanized rubber. Charles Goodyear is credited with inventing the chemical process to create and manufacture pliable, waterproof, moldable rubber.
The Industrial University Club House is located at the corner of Goodyear Boulevard and East Market Street.
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
