Great moments in Akron business history

Editor’s note: For our cover story of the 99 greatest moments in 99 years of business, check the Cleveland page under the Get Local link at left. Here are some local highs and lows, with assistance from George Knepper, retired Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus at The University of Akron.

1900: Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. is founded by Harvey S. Firestone, and production begins with 12 employees. It grows to become Akron’s third major rubber company, after B.F.Goodrich (founded in 1870) and Goodyear (1898).

1905: Akron becomes the world leader in tire and rubber products.

1906: Firestone tires chosen by Henry Ford for the first mass produced automobiles.

1913: The worst flood in Akron’s history destroys the Ohio Canal.

1913: Buchtel College becomes The University of Akron.

1926: Dr. Waldo Semon, a Goodrich scientist, invents polyvinyl chloride (PVC), beginning a multibillion-dollar worldwide vinyl industry.

1929: Akron’s population peaks at 255,000 people.

1929: Goodyear builds the world’s largest airship dock and construction begins on the first rigid airship, the Goodyear Zeppelin.

1935: The first Akron Soap Box Derby is held.

1935: United Rubber Workers (URW) is founded at the Portage Hotel.

1937: Firestone is the first to sign a collective bargaining agreement with URW.

1937: Synthetic rubber is invented by BFGoodrich scientists, a crucial development that aids Allied victory after WWII cuts off the supply of natural rubber.

1940: The Rubber Bowl is built.

1943: Goodyear Aircraft Division completes a two-year ramp-up, from zero to 33,000 employees.

1950: The New Union Depot is built at the end of the railroad era. It now houses the Black Cultural Center at The University of Akron.

1957: Downtown redevelopment begins with construction of Cascade Plaza.

1961: Grant Washington Urban Renewal District becomes the first of many urban renewal projects in Akron.

1967: The University of Akron becomes a state university, allowing it to greatly enlarge services.

1967: Liquid Crystal Display is developed by James Ferguson at Kent State University’s Liquid Crystal Institute.

1970: On May 4, the Ohio National Guard shoots into a crowd of Vietnam War protesters at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding 13.

1973: The state of Ohio pays $4 million (a $2.5 million profit) to 42-year-old David Brennan for land in the Cuyahoga Valley, enabling a successful attorney to become an empire-building industrialist.

1974: Congress establishes the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area (including the former Brennan land) as an urban park under the National Park Service.

1975: Following hints about plant closings, rubber production in Akron begins a 10-year period of steep decline.

1986: B.F.Goodrich sells its tire business (to Michelin) and focuses on aerospace components and polymers.

1987: Akron is selected as the site for the National Inventors Hall of Fame, sparking a slow but steady increase in construction, diversification and morale.

1992: Four years after being purchased by Bridgestone, Firestone’s corporate headquarters moves to Nashville.

1997: The Canton/Akron Indians move into the newly built Canal Park stadium.

1998: BFGoodrich, the Rubber City’s first rubber company, announces its planned departure, an announcement that has far more symbolic impact than economic.