Goodyear Tires History
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company was originally founded in 1898 by a 38 year old man named Frank A. Seiberling. Seiberling purchased the company’s very first plant with a $3,500 down payment, which he had borrowed from his brother in-law Lucius C. Miles. The livelihood of the industry during those times were rubber and cotton which needed to be transported about half way around the world, to a city which had a limited amount of railroad transportation. The company’s name is memorialized after Charles Goodyear, which had passed away broke 30 years earlier even though his discovery of vulcanization, a chemical process for converting rubber or related polymers into more durable materials.
In 1890s the bicycle trend was at this ultimate level and timing couldn’t be better. The so called horseless carriage, better known in those days as the automobile was a good opportunity. Also the economic depression of 1893 was starting to fade away. As a result Goodyear was incorporated on August 29, 1898.
Goodyear’s production began with only thirteen employees on November 21, 1898. The production line included bicycle and horse carriage tires. Since the making of the first bicycle tire in 1898, Goodyear managed to become the world’s largest tire manufacturer. In 1916 Goodyear Tire Company adopted the slogan “More people ride on Goodyear tires than on any other kind” and became the world’s biggest rubber company in the year 1926.