This postcard shows an aerial view of the factories of the B.F. Goodrich Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio. At the time the postcard was created, the Company employed 20,000 people in 63 buildings with 85 acres of floor space. In 1869, Dr. Benjamin Franklin Goodrich was the largest stockholder in New York's Hudson River Rubber Company. In 1870, Goodrich decided to move his business to Akron, Ohio. At this time, no rubber manufacturers existed west of the Appalachian Mountains and Goodrich hoped to dominate the rubber industry in the west. He opened the Akron Rubber Works in March 1871. The company name was eventually changed to the B.F. Goodrich Company in 1880. The B.F. Goodrich Company is famous for several inventions: the pneumatic tire in 1888 (a tire filled with air), vinyl in 1926, synthetic rubber in 1937 (synthetic rubber is made from various chemicals and does not require the use of rubber trees), tubeless tire in 1946, and the first spacesuits for astronauts in 1961.
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