The new exhibit at the Litchfield Park Museum shines a light on the extensive and rapid growth of the rubber tire industry from 1900 to the early 1960s – a time when rubber became one of America’s great industries. Spurred on by the popularity of bicycles which gave people a new freedom and mobility, it only seemed logical for businessmen to turn to the newly invented automobile for further opportunities. After all, each vehicle needed rubber tires.
As a result, hundreds of companies set up shop overnight; and Akron, Ohio, soon became the Rubber Capital of the World. This was partly due to the accessibility of goods via railroad, the Ohio and Erie Canal, and the Cuyahoga River; but mainly it was due to the intersection of leadership and luck.