Description: This photograph shows a length of rubber moving down a conveyor belt and being fed into a machine with two large rollers, which appear to be grinding or mashing the rubber into a thinner strip. The shift workers names K. C. Dixon and E. Soderstrom appear at the top of the Davis machine in the background. This is most likely the B.F. Goodrich Rubber Company Plant or the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company Plant, both in Akron, Ohio. More information needed. The B.F. Goodrich Rubber Company Plant was located at 500 South Main Street was Akron’s oldest rubber factory and one of the world’s largest, producing more than 30,000 kinds of rubber articles beside automobile tires. Occupying 275 acres, the plant had 116 buildings with 165 acres of floor space. In addition, the Goodrich company operated the Miller rubbery factory on South High Street and several regional plants. The Goodrich plant had its own utilities, waterworks, service departments, hospital, electric transportation system, and a subway. The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company Plant was located on 1278 South Main Street and covered 10 city blocks, including its subsidiaries: Xylos Rubber Plant, the Firestone Battery Company Plant and the Firestone Steel Products Plant. It was founded in 1900 by Harvey S. Firestone. In addition to tires, this group of factories produces batteries, spark plugs, brake linings, steel wheel drums and rims and a variety of articles requiring adhesion of steel and rubber. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B08F02_022_001
Subjects: Industries--Ohio--Akron; Rubber industry and trade--Ohio--Equipment and supplies; Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Akron, Ohio; Firestone Tire & Rubber Company
Places: Akron (Ohio); Summit County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows a large machine holding a form which is used to make rubber tires. This is most likely the B.F. Goodrich Rubber Company Plant or the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company Plant, both in Akron, Ohio. More information needed. The B.F. Goodrich Rubber Company Plant was located at 500 South Main Street was Akron’s oldest rubber factory and one of the world’s largest, producing more than 30,000 kinds of rubber articles beside automobile tires. Occupying 275 acres, the plant had 116 buildings with 165 acres of floor space. In addition, the Goodrich company operated the Miller rubbery factory on South High Street and several regional plants. The Goodrich plant had its own utilities, waterworks, service departments, hospital, electric transportation system, and a subway. The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company Plant was located on 1278 South Main Street and covered 10 city blocks, including its subsidiaries: Xylos Rubber Plant, the Firestone Battery Company Plant and the Firestone Steel Products Plant. It was founded in 1900 by Harvey S. Firestone. In addition to tires, this group of factories produces batteries, spark plugs, brake linings, steel wheel drums and rims and a variety of articles requiring adhesion of steel and rubber. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B08F02_021_001
Subjects: Industries--Ohio--Akron; Rubber industry and trade--Ohio--Equipment and supplies; Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Akron, Ohio; Firestone Tire & Rubber Company
Places: Akron (Ohio); Summit County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows police clashing with strikers at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber strike in Akron, Ohio, in late May 1938. Two police officers are holding raised batons as they and other police advance toward a group of workers. The activity is taking place along a brick and iron fence. A car with a driver at the wheel is visible to the right of the workers and police. One hundred people were injured during this strike. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, factory workers faced poor working conditions, low wages, and almost no benefits. This was true for the workers employed by rubber manufacturers in Akron, Ohio, such the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, B.F. Goodrich, and Firestone. In an attempt to alleviate their conditions, workers went on strike and left the factory to join picket lines. Company owners often hired “scab” laborers to cross the picket lines and continue production. This practice made it difficult for striking workers to obtain their demands. In 1935, rubber workers in Akron, Ohio, tried a new approach to strikes, the sit-down strike, in which workers stopped working but still occupied their places within the factory. This process meant that the factory owners could not send in additional workers to continue the job. In addition, factory management was more reluctant to use private security forces or other strike breakers to intimidate the striking workers, as that approach threatened destruction to plant property. In 1935, the rubber workers organized a union, the United Rubber Workers (URW). In its first year the URW created thirty-nine local chapters. This union’s goals were to improve wages and working conditions for its members, and it soon had its first opportunity. The URW organized its first strike against Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company the following year. This sit-down strike began as a protest against a plan created by Goodyear to reduce wages and increase the pace of production. In addition to the sit-down strike, the rubber workers also organized long picket lines in protest. Akron’s mayor, Lee D. Schroy, attempted to send in the police to put down the strike, but the police officers refused to do so when they faced the thousands of organized workers. After the violent strike in May 1938, three more years of cooperation between the new URW and Goodyear elapsed before the first formal contract was signed in 1941. In the long term, Goodyear was forced to recognize URW and negotiate better contracts with workers. Legislation passed during the New Deal required industries to recognize unions and legitimized collective bargaining, increasing the URW's popularity and success even further. By the end of World War II, membership had grown to almost 200,000. After World War II, the URW continued to work to improve laborers conditions. The union began negotiating industry-wide agreements rather than focusing on one factory. The union also became more inclusive, working to reduce gender and racial discrimination both within the union itself and in the workplace. The URW also negotiated pension plans and insurance plans with employers. In the 1990s, the URW merged with the United Steelworkers to form an even stronger union. This union still strives to improve its members' working conditions, wages, and benefits. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06154
Subjects: Strikes; Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company; United Rubber Workers of America; Labor unions--Ohio; Labor movement--United States--History--20th century; Strikes and lockouts--Rubber industry; Business and Labor; Akron (Ohio)
Places: Akron (Ohio); Summit County (Ohio)
 

Description: Portrait of Benjamin Franklin Goodrich, who established the first rubber company west of the Allegheny Mountains in Akron, Ohio, in 1870. Goodrich (1841-1888) helped make Akron, Ohio, the "Rubber Capital of the World" during the late 1800s. Before becoming involved in the rubber industry, Goodrich attended Cleveland Medical College (modern-day Case Western Reserve School of Medicine) where he specialized in surgery. Following the Civil War, Goodrich left medicine and became involved in other pursuits, including working in some of Pennsylvania's oilfields and, in 1867, opening a real estate office in New York City. He became involved in the rubber industry in 1869, soon becoming the largest stockholder in the Hudson River Rubber Company in New York. Goodrich faced stiff competition from numerous other rubber producers and decided to move his business to Akron, where local residents had collected $13,600 to encourage Goodrich to relocate. At this time, no other rubber manufacturers existed west of the Appalachian Mountains, and Goodrich hoped to dominate the rubber industry in the Midwest and Far West. He opened his Akron plant, the Akron Rubber Works, in March 1871, employing twenty workers. The plant made numerous items but focused on fire hoses that would not burst under pressure. The company, which became known as the B.F. Goodrich Company, grew slowly during the 1870s, nearly going bankrupt twice, but the business gained momentum during the 1880s and 1890s. In 1888, an Irish veterinarian invented the pneumatic (air-filled) tire out of rubber. It became very popular among bicyclists, providing the rider with a much smoother ride. With the invention of the automobile, demands for tires skyrocketed. The first tires were solid rubber, but the B.F. Goodrich Company quickly developed a pneumatic tire suitable for cars. By 1892, four years after B.F. Goodrich's death, the company employed four hundred workers and sold more than 1.4 million dollars worth of products. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04241
Subjects: Rubber industry and trade--Ohio; Ohio Economy--Science and Technology
Places: Akron (Ohio); Summit County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photomechanical reproduction of a stereograph depicting two workers building a rubber tire for an automobile at a factory in Akron, Ohio. The original stereograph was published by the Keystone View Company, and the reproduction was made by Stereo Classic Studios. Numerous rubber companies operated in or near Akron during the late 19th Century, leading the city to be known as the "Rubber Capital of the World." Among the large-scale rubber producers to have factories in the area were the B.F. Goodrich Company, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, and the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. The advent of the bicycle and the automobile led to great success for companies in the rubber industry. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02736
Subjects: Rubber industry workers--Ohio; Ohio Economy--Economy--Business; Ohio Economy--Economy--Labor; Manufacturing industries--Ohio
Places: Akron (Ohio); Summit County (Ohio)
 

Description: Taken by U.S. Film Service photographer Edwin Locke, ca. 1937, this photograph shows a rubber yard in Akron, Ohio. Numerous rubber companies operated in or near Akron, Ohio, making this city the "Rubber Capital of the World." Among the large-scale rubber producers in the area were the B.F. Goodrich Company, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, and the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. The advent of the bicycle and the automobile sparked an economic boom which drew workers not only from surrounding counties, but from neighboring states as well. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B13F10_003_001
Subjects: Akron (Ohio); Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Rubber industry and trade; Works Progress Administration; Ohio Federal Writers' Project
Places: Akron (Ohio); Summit County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reverse reads "Miller Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio. Photo by Edwin Locke for U.S. Film Service." This is an photograph of the Miller Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio. There are homes in the foreground with people walking on the train tracks. The Miller Rubber Company was run by the The B.F. Goodrich Rubber Company Plant, one of Akron's oldest rubber factories and one of the world's largest, producing more than 30, 000 kinds of rubber articles beside automobile tires. The Goodrich plant had its own utilities, waterworks, service departments, hospital, electric transportation system, and a subway. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B07F10_004_1
Subjects: Industries--Ohio--Akron; Rubber industry and trade--Ohio--Equipment and supplies; United States. Work Projects Administration (Ohio)
Places: Akron (Ohio); Summit County (Ohio)
 

Description: Original description reads: "Rubber tires created for milk wagons in Akron, O." A nickname of Akron is the Rubber Capital of the World; and for good reason. By the second half of the 1800s, railroads connected Akron to other important cities in Ohio, and numerous industries emerged. The rubber industry being the most important and historically significant of these. For a time Akron was the fastest growing city in America, its population exploding from 69,000 in 1910 to 208,000 in 1920. People came for the jobs in the rubber factories from many places, including Europe and West Virginia. Probably among the most famous companies established in Akron were the B.F. Goodrich Company and the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, both rubber and tire manufacturers that began to prosper after the advent of the automobile age. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B09F13_002_1
Subjects: Rubber industry and trade--Ohio--Akron; Automobiles--Tires; Milk--Transportation
Places: Akron (Ohio); Summit County (Ohio)
 

Description: This illustration shows two men working at a "Chaffee Machine" used to process rubber. A caption beneath the illustration reads: "Calendars heated internally by Steam, for spreading India Rubber into Sheets or upon Cloth, called the 'Chaffee Machine'." Large gears and cogs are attached to various wheels and pulleys to turn three large rolls of rubber material. The illustration is from "Trials of an Inventor, Life and Discoveries of Charles Goodyear," by Rev. Bradford K. Peirce, published in 1866. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04285
Subjects: Rubber industry and trade--Ohio; Ohio Economy--Economy--Labor; Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company; Rubber industry workers--Ohio; Rubber industry and trade--Ohio
 

Description: Man working at the Firestone Rubber Company. Harvey Firestone founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio, in 1900. The company relied on others to produce rubber, instead focusing on tire production. By 1910, the company manufactured more than one million tires, including for Ford automobiles. Firestone's innovations in tire design allowed automobiles to travel faster and more safely, and today as part of the Bridgestone Corporation, it is still one of the largest of its kind in the world. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03453
Subjects: Rubber industry and trade--Ohio; Ohio Economy--Economy--Business; Tire industry; Firestone Tire and Rubber Company
Places: Akron (Ohio); Summit County (Ohio)
 

Description: Employees of the Firestone Rubber Company making tires on an assembly line. Harvey Firestone founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio, in 1900. The company relied on others to produce rubber, instead focusing on tire production. By 1910, the company manufactured more than one million tires, including for Ford automobiles. Firestone's innovations in tire design allowed automobiles to travel faster and more safely, and today as part of the Bridgestone Corporation, it is still one of the largest of its kind in the world. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03454
Subjects: Rubber industry and trade--Ohio; Ohio Economy--Economy--Business; Firestone Tire and Rubber Company; Tire industry
Places: Akron (Ohio); Summit County (Ohio)
 

Description: This aerial photograph shows the Akron, Ohio, industrial district, including views of East Akron, the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company plants 1, 2, and 3, and the Zeppelin Hangar (later known as the Goodyear Airdock) in the background. To the left of the Airdock in the upper left corner is Akron Municipal Airport. Akron Municipal Airport began operating in 1929 on property belonging to Bain Ecarius "Shorty" Fulton, and the airport terminal opened its doors for commercial travel on June 15, 1931. Fulton worked for the airport as manager for 34 before retiring in 1962; it was later renamed Akron Fulton International Airport in his honor. The B.F. Goodrich Rubber Company Plant, located at 500 South Main Street, was Akron’s oldest rubber factory and one of the world’s largest, producing more than 30,000 kinds of rubber articles besides automobile tires. Occupying 275 acres, the plant had 116 buildings with 165 acres of floor space. In addition, the Goodrich Company operated the Miller rubbery factory on South High Street and several regional plants. The Goodrich plant had its own utilities, waterworks, service departments, hospital, electric transportation system, and a subway. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B08F02_028_001
Subjects: Akron (Ohio); Rubber industry and trade--Ohio--Akron; Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company; Airports; Aerial photography
Places: Akron (Ohio); Summit County (Ohio)