Inventory of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company Records, 1898-1993

History of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company

The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company has been located in the Akron area for over 100 years. With its unique trademark and floating blimps, Goodyear's presence is not just in Northeast Ohio, but throughout the world. Through constant expansions in rubber manufacturing and diversification in fields such as aeronautics, energy, and racing, Goodyear has become a leading tire producer worldwide. With 3,000 jobs at its headquarters in the Akron area, Goodyear is the largest manufacturing employer in Summit County, and supports the Akron community with contributions to local schools and various social groups. However, Goodyear has also experienced its share of adversity over the years. The constant competition from other tire companies, occasional labor disputes, and a surprise takeover attempt in the mid 1980s have put pressure on the company, causing it to suffer losses by way of jobs and subsidiaries, just to keep the company operating. Goodyear's advances in the field of Lighter-than-Air flight helped the country achieve victory in wars and led to one of the most recognizable advertising campaigns across the globe commonly referred to as the Goodyear Blimp.

It would be difficult to list an entire history of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, so the focus will be on significant events that have shaped the company into what it is today. These events are categorized as: 1. The Beginning of Goodyear; 2. The Depression of 1920 and Early Labor Troubles; 3. Products and Advertising; 4. World War I and the Development of Airships; 5. Contributions to World War II and Expansions in Aeronautics; 6. Global and Technological Developments; 7. The Goldsmith Raid and Recovery; 8. Goodyear's Involvement with Racing and the Company's Future.

The Beginning of Goodyear

Goodyear was founded by Frank A. Seiberling on August 29, 1898 when he purchased an abandoned strawboard factory on the Little Cuyahoga River for $13,500. On September 5, 1898 David E. Hill, George R. Hill, Henry B. Manton, Charles W. Seiberling, and Frank A. Seiberling were elected as the first set of directors. The first officers were David E. Hill, president; George R. Hill, vice-president; Frank A. Seiberling, secretary and general manager (and president in 1906); Henry B. Manton, treasurer; and Sam Miller, superintendent. Raising another $43,500 in money borrowed from friends and relatives, Seiberling made repairs to the buildings on-site and chose to name his new company after Charles Goodyear (1800-1860), the man considered to be the founder of the rubber industry due to his discovery of the vulcanization process for rubber. Purchasing the rubber-making equipment second-hand and raising another $93,000 in working capital from the investing public, the new company was ready to begin production on November 21, 1898.

The first few years proved difficult for Goodyear. The workforce of less than fifty men began making carriage and bicycle tires; however, both products were covered by patents owned by Edwin S. Kelly's Rubber Tire Wheel Company and the Single Tube Automobile and Bicycle Company, respectively. Both companies belonged to capitalist combines that became monopolies designed to stop any competition from outside companies like Goodyear. Despite first year sales of $508,597 and second year sales of $1,035,921, the series of patent infringement court cases that ensued hurt the infant company financially, since all profits were held in escrow pending the court's decision. The final verdict came on May 6, 1902 in favor of Goodyear and all of their funds were released. This news was bittersweet for the company since it allowed Goodyear to carry on with its production of carriage and bicycle tires, but it also allowed other companies to do the same. This result caused price wars between companies that would delay any profits for Goodyear over the next few years, but the determined company surged ahead of the competition. By 1910, 36 percent of the automobiles made were sold with Goodyear tires and rims and by 1916 Goodyear had become the world's largest tire manufacturer with sales reaching $3,508,788.

The Depression of 1920 and Early Labor Relations

The economic depression of 1920-1921 caused financial troubles for Goodyear that quickly drained the company reserves. Seiberling was forced to turn to Wall Street bankers Dillon, Read and Company to help pay the company's debts and save Goodyear from bankruptcy. Under terms set by the bank, Seiberling was required to step down as president of Goodyear in May of 1921. The bank chose E.G. Wilmer to take Seiberling's place as president of the company and he held the position until 1923, when he became chairman of the board and George M. Stadelman was elected president. Unfortunately, Stadelman's time as president of Goodyear was short lived and his sudden death on January 22, 1926 left Wilmer to choose Paul W. Litchfield as the next president on March 29, 1926.

The late 1930s would see numerous labor troubles for Goodyear. To prevent any layoffs of its employees due to the effects of the Great Depression, Goodyear initiated a six-hour work day in 1932. This was approved by Goodyear's Industrial Assembly, an in-house workers union set up in 1919 as a way for employees to voice their concerns with management. As the country began to recover over the next few years and sales increased, the company decided to return to the original eight-hour workday to keep up with production, despite the Industrial Assembly's objections. On February 14, 1936, 63 workers sat down at their machines in protest of Goodyear's proposal to institute the eight-hour workday, fearing that the shift change would eliminate jobs and cut wages. Four days later an official strike was called that would last five weeks, ending on March 21, 1936 with a settlement of keeping the six-hour workday and Goodyear having to provide written notice for any further layoffs or wage changes.

Even though this conflict was resolved, the underlying problem was that local unions were demanding recognition outside of the American Federation of Labor (A.F.L.) and Goodyear's own Industrial Assembly. Later on in 1935, the threat of rubber jobs being moved out of Akron set the stage for more labor disputes. With the Wagner Act of 1937 ruling that the Industrial Assembly was unconstitutional, and worker unrest still lingering within the company from the 1936 strike, Goodyear workers unionized under the United Rubber Workers of America (U.R.W.). The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company and B.F. Goodrich Company, having already settled their own labor quarrels with signed agreements, eased the minds of their workers over the threat of decentralization. This left Goodyear as the only one of the "Big Three" rubber companies without a written agreement with the unions. On May 26, 1938 picketers congregated outside of Goodyear's Plant One. The police intervened, but their orders to the crowd to disperse were ignored. Rioting broke out and lasted until the following morning, leaving 100 people injured. Hoping to avoid any further violent altercations, both the company and union officials reached a swift resolution two days later, even though Goodyear would not sign an official contract with the unions until 1941.

Products and Advertising

To set itself apart from the other tire companies of the era, Goodyear began redesigning both tires and rims. The tires of the 1900s were a "clincher" type, where the tire was held by an outward curving bead which fitted into the flanges of the rim making the tire very difficult to remove and replace when it blew out. To solve this issue, Paul W. Litchfield designed a "straight-side" tire, one with no curving bead for easier removal from the rim. This new product was introduced in 1901 under the new "Wingfoot" trademark. This logo, inspired by a statuette of Mercury in the Seiberling home, would become synonymous with the Goodyear name. In 1904 the Goodyear Universal Rim was produced as well as improvements to Goodyear's straight-side tire design creating the Goodyear Detachable tire, allowing motorists of the day to change tires without the use of tools. Both products would aid in Goodyear's reputation and growth by being sold as original equipment to automobile manufacturers. The company would continue producing various makes and models of tires such as the Pathfinder, the Balloon, and the All Weather, but the next great innovation would arrive during the 1970s when Goodyear began to modernize its existing factories for the manufacturing of radial tires.

Invented by Michelin of France in 1948, the radial tire became the standard tire of all European vehicles and Goodyear's board of directors saw it was only a matter of time before radials replaced the standard bias-ply tires in the United States. Radial tires consist of plies of rubber coated fabric placed at ninety degree angles to the direction of travel with rubber coated steel belts inbetween the plies and tread for added strength. Bias-ply plies are set at an angle to the tread and crosswise to each other causing added friction and wear. This difference in design helps the radial tire last for 40,000 miles compared to the bias-ply tire which lasts only 5,000 miles. In 1977 Goodyear introduced its own radial tire, the Tiempo, which would become the most successful tire for the company at that time.

In 1991, Stanley C. Gault became Goodyear's new CEO and using marketing as the edge for improvement, introduced the Eagle GA and Eagle GT+4. The biggest marketing campaign came during the 1992 Winter Olympics for Goodyear's Aquatred model. With its special design, the Aquatred improved driving in wet conditions and helped reduce hydroplaning by channeling water away from the sides of the tire. The tire won Goodyear over a dozen major awards and sold two million units within the two years following its introduction to the public.

The most recognizable promotion of the Goodyear name is "The Blimp." Usually seen at sporting events across the country and a staple of the Akron skyline, most of Goodyear's blimps are fitted with a grid of up to 3,780 lamps to display advertizing and public service messages both day and night. Goodyear began using blimps as portable billboards in 1925; however, the company's introduction to buoyant flight began before the First World War.

World War I and the Development of Airships

Goodyear's experiments with airship envelopes in 1911 evolved into envelopes for balloon racing by 1913, and it was this prior involvement that caught the eye of the military. With America's entry into World War I on April 6, 1917, the need for research and development for the world's first mechanized conflict was in high demand. Winning a contract for the construction of dirigibles from the U.S. Navy, Goodyear built a hanger 12 miles from the Akron plant on 720 acres of land near Fritch's Lake (renamed Wingfoot Lake) to assemble the airships. Measuring 400 feet long, 100 feet high and 100 feet wide, the new hangar helped Goodyear supply 900 balloons and 100 non-rigid airships to the Allies during World War I. After the war, the German Zeppelin Company agreed to give its technology to the Americans with Goodyear winning the contract and forming the Goodyear-Zeppelin Company in 1924.

In 1928 the new zeppelin division was awarded another U.S. Navy contract to build two rigid airships, but a larger site was needed to carry out the project. To solve this problem, Goodyear started working on a new air dock on sixty acres of Fulton Field next to Massillon Road. Construction began on April 20, 1929 and finished November 25 of that year. The hangar measured 1,175 feet long, 325 feet wide, 211 feet high, and at the time was the world's largest building without interior supports. Goodyear-Zeppelin constructed its first airship and christened it the Akron on August 8, 1931. Measuring 785 feet long and 146 feet in height, the airship set out on its maiden flight to Cleveland on September 23, 1931 and remained active until April 4, 1933, when an electrical storm drove the Akron into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 73 of the 76 men on board. The second airship, the Macon, set off on its first flight on April 21, 1933 and was active in Navy maneuvers during 1934. On February 13, 1935, the Macon went down in the Pacific Ocean when a gust of wind tore the top fin.

After these accidents, no more dirigibles were constructed in the United States, but Goodyear continued to construct new and improved blimps, producing the Pilgrim, the Puritan, the Volunteer, the Vigilant, the Mayflower, and the Defender. After the crash of the Hindenburg in 1937, any further zeppelin construction was placed on hold until World War II.

Contributions to World War II and Expansions in Aeronautics

Just before America's entry into World War II, the U.S. Military began preparations for defense by awarding a contract for six K-Type blimps to the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation (GAC), formerly the Goodyear-Zeppelin Company. These blimps would be larger than any previously built and had a helium capacity of 412,000 cubic feet, measured 253 feet long and stood at 80 feet in height.

In December of 1939, GAC extended itself beyond blimps and was soon assembling parts for the B-26 Marauder under a contract by the Glenn L. Martin Company. In August of 1940, the GAC began a contract for making wheels and brakes for fighter planes, a month later started yet another contract constructing tail assemblies for the Grumman Avenger. With all the extra production on the horizon, the GAC quickly expanded by constructing Plants B through E to help carry the additional workload.

With the Japanese capturing rubber plantations in the Pacific, America's natural rubber supply was dwindling, thus increasing the need for synthetic rubber. Having already created its own synthetic rubber called Chemigum in 1927, Goodyear began construction of synthetic rubber processing plants at the request of the United States government to make Government Rubber, Styrene (GRS). Goodyear plants, pooled together with the other major rubber companies, aided in producing over 800,000 tons of synthetic rubber to be used in munitions processing for the war effort.

Goodyear manufactured many new products specifically designed for wartime use such as the bullet sealing fuel tank, tank tracks (treads), rubber assault craft, and pontoons for portable bridges, but the company's greatest contribution was still the construction of airships and airplanes. Under a Navy contract, the GAC constructed the FG-1 Corsair fighter plane, producing 4,006 units within two and a half years, as well as 154 blimps. The company was also responsible for producing airframes for various additional aircraft including Boeing Superfortresses, Liberators, Martin bombers, Grumman Torpedo Bombers, Martin Flying Boats, Lockheed Lightnings, Curtiss Warhawks, Northrop Black Widows, Grumman Hellcats, Grumman Tigercats, and helicopters.

Global and Technological Developments

Since the construction of a factory in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada in 1910, Goodyear has sought to promote its name and workforce in regions across the globe as the need for tires increased. With a sales branch in London in 1912 and others in Australia, Argentina, and South Africa in 1915, Goodyear was becoming well known and slowly earned the title of the World's Largest Tire Company by 1916. To keep up with the company's increasing need for natural rubber, Seiberling began development on a 20,000 acre rubber plantation on the island of Sumatra that same year so he would have his own readily available materials to fill future orders of tires.

All this rapid expansion would have unexpected consequences for Goodyear. With the depression that followed the end of World War I, the company found itself overextended and losing money on its foreign factories. Once the economic situation improved, Goodyear was more cautious of its growth during the 1930s, opening up a plant in Buenos Aries, Argentina in 1931, another in Java in 1935 and two more in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Norrkoping, Sweden in 1938. Another world war would again slow down any further extension prospects for the company.

The prosperity in the years following World War II allowed Goodyear to renew overseas expansion of the company and research new innovations. New factories were established in Columbia, Venezuela, Cuba, and South Africa in the late 1940s. All foreign operations would be consolidated into Goodyear International Corporation (GIC) in 1957.

Global expansion continued during the 1960s with Goodyear taking on its foreign competitors. A new plant was constructed in Amiens, France to compete with Michelin. The 1962 acquisition of the German tire maker Gummiweke Fulda allowed the company to produce tires for the German market. In 1965, a tire plant in Cisterna di Latina, Italy was built to challenge Pirelli, Italy's leading tire company.

Back in the States, Goodyear's varied technological advancements were becoming another opportunity for company growth. In 1952, Goodyear Atomic Corporation was founded when the government selected Goodyear to operate a $1.2 billion atomic plant being constructed in Pike County, Ohio. Another $65 million contract was gained by Goodyear in 1958 to produce an antisubmarine missile called Subroc at its new aeronautics research and development laboratory in Litchfield Park, Arizona. Goodyear continued to diversify in the early 1980s with the 1983 acquisition of the Celeron Corporation, with the hope that it could provide 25 percent of Goodyear's income by expanding into the energy market. With this new acquisition, the company began the construction of the All-American Pipeline, a 1,200 mile pipeline running from California to Texas that would transport 300,000 barrels of oil per day.

The Goldsmith Raid and Recovery

In 1986, a hostile takeover attempt was made by Anglo-French financier Sir James Goldsmith. Secretly purchasing up to 11.5 percent (12.5 million shares) of Goodyear stock, Goldsmith filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission his intent to buy the remaining 88.5 percent at its value of $49 per share. To stop Goldsmith, Goodyear was forced to buy back not only the stocks owned by Goldsmith, but an additional 40 million outstanding shares of the company's own stock. In the end, Goldsmith "lost" the takeover with $94 million of Goodyear's money, while Goodyear now had $2.6 billion in debt. With no other alternative, Goodyear began to sell off most of its nontire subsidiaries, giving GAC to the Loral Company for $588 million and parts of Celeron to Exxon for $650 million.

Most of the early 1990s were spent repairing the financial damage left by Goldsmith. Up to 12,000 jobs (680 in Akron) were eliminated and factories were consolidated to help ease the burden. Goodyear lost its number one rank as the world's largest tire maker to Michelin in 1990, but the good news was that tire sales were still going strong for the company. With the success of the Aquatred and company streamlining, Goodyear cut its debt in half and earned $567 million in profits by 1994 under the leadership of Stanley C. Gault. Gault was succeeded by Samir F. Gibara who became Goodyear's first foreign born chairman in 1996. Gibara's main focus was to return Goodyear as the number one manufacturer of tires worldwide, a goal he achieved with a $1 billion global alliance with Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. of Japan in 1999.

Goodyear's Involvement with Racing and the Company's Future

In 2004 Goodyear celebrated its 50th anniversary as a supplier to NASCAR. The company had dabbled with racing in 1902 when it tested its new straight-side tires on English racetracks. Even though the tires did not hold up to the tests, Goodyear stuck with its racing program, eventually winning its first Indianapolis 500 race in 1919. With looming financial problems two years later, Goodyear abandoned all races for the next 37 years, "officially" returning to stock-car racing in 1958 and back to the Indy 500 in 1964, even though the company had been supplying tires for the races since 1954. Goodyear tires would be on first placing vehicles for the next 464 wins, until a series of crashes with their latest model of tires and competition from the new Hoosier Tire company ended the streak in 1988. After a quick redesign of their racing tires, Goodyear returned to the tracks and eventually gained a monopoly with the departure of Hoosier from the racing scene in 1995. In 2007 NASCAR extended Goodyear's exclusive tire supply agreement until 2012.

Goodyear still moves forward as a company, carrying on its rich and diverse history. Expansions are being made in Eastern Europe and China and new innovative and advanced models of tires are introduced every year. Goodyear continues to construct and operate blimps, adding the Spirit of America, the Spirit of Innovation, the Spirit of Goodyear (replacement to the Spirit of Akron) and the Aerial Ambassador to its line of airships.

Scope and Content

The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company records are divided into 15 Record series.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Use

Copyright restrictions may apply. Permission to reproduce or publish materials in this collection must be secured in writing from Archival Services, University Libraries, The University of Akron.

Restrictions on Access

No restrictions on access; except not available through interlibrary loan. Copyright restrictions may apply. Permission to reproduce or publish materials in this collection must be secured in writing from Archival Services, University Libraries, The University of Akron.

B.F. Goodrich Company Records, 1868-1990

General Tire and Rubber Company Records, 1940-1973

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Organizations/Corporations:

Preferred Citation

[Identification of Item], Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company Records 1889-1993, Archival Services, University Libraries, The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio

Other Finding Aid

To view the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company Inventory

To view the Goodyear photograph series

To view the Goodyear Company Newspaper The Wingfoot Clan, Akron Edition

To view the Goodyear Company Newspaper The Wingfoot Clan, Aircraft Edition