Akron, Ohio: how four tire companies built the Rubber Capital of the World, the 1975 to 1981 collapse that cost 80,000 rubber jobs, what replaced it, and LeBron James’s hometown legacy
Covers Why Akron Became Rubber Capital, The Rubber Industry Collapse, Deindustrialization and Economic Shift and more.
“Akron, Ohio: how four tire companies built the Rubber Capital of the World, the 1975 to 1981 collapse that cost 80,000 rubber jobs, what replaced it, and LeBron James’s hometown legacy” is a 4-lesson course at Teen level, created with soclever, a personal AI teacher. Each lesson takes a few minutes and ends with a check-in question; finish the curriculum and you can take a certificate test to earn a diploma. Try the first lesson without an account — or make your own course on any topic. Shared by @meirrosenschein.
What you'll learn
- Why Akron Became Rubber Capital. Start with the check. In 1870 Benjamin Franklin Goodrich moved his rubber company to Akron on a $13,600 grant from the Akron Board of Trade.
- The Rubber Industry Collapse. The collapse happened in a sequence, and the sequence is the whole lesson. Step one, production.
- Deindustrialization and Economic Shift. First, the population. The city of Akron sits at about 189,000 to 190,000 and is slowly declining. The metro area around it is about 571,000 and growing slightly.
- LeBron James and Post-Industrial Identity. Start with what the record shows. The Akron record first: LeBron James played at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School from 1999 to 2003.
Lesson 1: Why Akron Became Rubber Capital
Start with the check. In 1870 Benjamin Franklin Goodrich moved his rubber company to Akron on a $13,600 grant from the Akron Board of Trade. The business incorporated as B.F. Goodrich in 1880.
Now watch the dates that follow. Frank and Charles Seiberling founded Goodyear in Akron in 1898. Harvey Firestone relocated from Chicago in 1900. William O'Neil started General Tire in 1915. That completes the Big Four, and the list is closed: B.F. Goodrich, Goodyear, Firestone, General Tire. Seiberling is the surname of the men who founded Goodyear, not a fifth company.
Now the population figures. Akron had 69,067 people in 1910. In 1920 it had 208,435, growth of about 200 percent, the fastest of any US city that decade. By World War II the city held six tire factories.
One more thing came out of that boom, and it is not a tire. Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in Akron on June 10, 1935 by Bill Wilson, a New Yorker, and Dr. Bob Smith, an Akron surgeon. The person who introduced them was Henrietta Seiberling, of the same family that founded Goodyear. That is the boom's fingerprint on a story with no tires in it at all.
Questions this course answers
What four tire companies made Akron the Rubber Capital of the World?
B.F. Goodrich, Goodyear, Firestone, and General Tire make up the Big Four that completed the list.
How many rubber-related jobs were lost during the Akron rubber industry collapse?
Estimates of the rubber-related job loss run to 80,000 to 90,000 as a total across the entire decline.
What replaced tire manufacturing in Akron?
Employers like Summa Health, Cleveland Clinic Akron General, FirstEnergy, Akron Children's Hospital, InfoCision, and GOJO Industries replaced the manufacturing, alongside institutions like the University of Akron and its polymer science program.
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Early-stage product — exploratory, no guaranteed results.