Goodyear celebrates 125 years in business

AKRON — Goodyear was founded 125 years ago on Aug. 29, 1898. The company's first sale — for $25.80 in rubber tubes for medicine bottles — was recorded in December of that year. Today, Goodyear is the third largest tire maker in the world with tire sales in 2022 of $17.9 billion.

Here are some highlights and interesting facts from the company's history.

1898: Frank Seiberling borrows $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, Ohio, founding The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. It is named in honor of Charles Goodyear, who discovered the rubber vulcanization process in 1839. Production of carriage tires, bicycle tires, horseshoe pads and rubber sundries begins on Nov. 21.

1903: First tubeless tire Paul Litchfield granted patent on first tubeless automobile tire.

1907: Henry Ford buys 1,200 sets of tires for use on Model T automobile.

1908: First All-Weather tread design adopted — a diamond-studded pattern used with only minor modifications for nearly 40 years.

1909: Goodyear develops first pneumatic rubber airplane tire, which replaces sled runners and bicycle tires aviation pioneers were then using.

1911: Akron plant operates 24-hours a day.

1913: Plans announced to build factory in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Ralph de Palma races on Goodyear tires in the Indianapolis 500.

1917: Goodyear builds its first blimps for the company and the U.S. Navy.

1926: Paul Litchfield named president; Goodyear becomes the world's largest rubber company with sales of $230,161,356.

1932: Six-hour day inaugurated to spread the work and alleviate unemployment caused by the Depression.

1935: Kelly-Springfield Tire Company purchased.

1937: Goodyear builds and tests first American-made synthetic rubber tire.

1939: Goodyear Aircraft Corporation formed, grows from a work force of 30 to 35,000 in two-and-a-half years.

1941: U.S. Navy orders 21 blimps. Sales increase 52% over 1940, reflecting Goodyear's participation in U.S. military defense program.

1942: Company awarded contract to build Corsair fighter planes for U.S. military.

Considerable production is converted to war production, including guns, shells, tank tracks, gas masks, rafts, and bullet-sealing tanks.

Government synthetic rubber plants are built Akron, Houston, and Los Angeles.

Goodyear holdings in Sumatra, Philippines, and Java are invaded by Japan.

1943: Goodyear awarded contract for major components of B-29 bomber.

1944: 3,000th Corsair fighter airplane constructed by Goodyear Aircraft.

1945: V-J Day brings with it cancelation of more than $400 million of government contracts, return of first of more than 26,000 employees in U.S. armed forces.

1949: Goodyear enters TV era with sponsorship of "Paul Whiteman's Goodyear Revue."

1950: Goodyear produces 500-millionth tire.

1954: First nationwide strike in company's history lasts 52 days.

1955: Tubeless earthmover and grader tires developed.

1957: Goodyear Aircraft develops projected program for orbital space stations and manned flight to outer space.

1960: Mickey Thompson sets new land speed records on Goodyear tires.

1968: Data acquisition system installed at Goodyear Research, making laboratories the most highly computerized in the rubber industry.

1970: Staran, world's fastest computer, introduced by Goodyear Aerospace for air traffic control.

1971: World's largest tire (11½ feet high, 7,000 pounds) built at new $23-million super-tire facility at Topeka, Kan. First tires on the moon (Apollo 14) supplied by Goodyear.

1978: Plans announced to turn an idle Akron tire plant into a new $75-million Technical Center.

1983: Goodyear's three-billionth tire is manufactured at the Danville, Va. truck tire plant.

1986: Goodyear successfully fights off a hostile takeover when British financier Sir James Goldsmith, Hanson Trust and a group of investors purchase 11.5% of Goodyear stock.

1992: Goodyear introduces the first extended mobility, or run-on-flat, tire for the Chevrolet Corvette.

1994: Goodyear opens an "electronic store" on CompuServe, an online subscription service — Goodyear is the first and only major tire manufacturer with a CompuServe store. Manufacturing begins in China: The Chinese government grants applications for the Goodyear-Dalian joint venture to manufacture tires in China.

1995: Goodyear marks its 1,000th NASCAR Winston Cup victory.

1997: Deal signed with NASCAR, making Goodyear the "exclusive tire supplier" of NASCAR's top three race divisions.

1999: Goodyear forms $1 billion 'global alliance' with Sumitomo Rubber Industries, putting Goodyear on near equal footing saleswise with Bridgestone and Michelin. The deal was dissolved in 2015 with Goodyear retaining Dunlop assets in Europe.

2001: GT3 tire, the world's first tire made with a compound derived from corn, introduced at Geneva Auto Show.

2002: Low-rolling-resistant E-metric concept tires featured on General Motors's Autonomy fuel cell car.

2005: North American farm tire operations sold to Titan Tire.

2013: Goodyear holds the grand opening of the new global headquarters in Akron.

2018: Goodyear launches TireHub, a new national wholesale tire distributor in the United States.

2020: In response to global COVID-19 pandemic, Goodyear closes nearly all global tire manufacturing plants for the first time in company history. Plants would safely re-open by the end of the year.

2021: Goodyear acquires the Cooper Tire & Rubber Company for $2.5 billion, the largest acquisition in company history. The transaction expands Goodyear's market leadership in the U.S., nearly doubles the company's presence in China and strengthens its position in the global tire industry. The agreement was announced on February 22 and completed on June 7.

2023: Goodyear marks 125 years of business.