Akron Ohio History

It was founded in 1825 near the Ohio and Erie Canal and became a manufacturing center owing to its location at a the locks area. After the decline of heavy manufacturing, the city's industry has since diversified into research, financial, and high tech sectors.

There was substantial manufacturing growth from the Civil War, giving the City its next boost with the population increase between 1860 and 1870.

Akron’s history and the history of the rubber industry are mutually bound. The rubber industry transformed Akron from a small canal town into a fledgling city. The birth of the rubber industry started in the eighteen hundreds, long before America fell in love with the automobile. Akron was incorporated as a village in 1835, and as a city in 1865.

Goodyear Tire and Rubber became America's top tire manufacturer and Akron was granted the title of “The Rubber Capital of the World”.

For a time, Akron was the fastest-growing city in the country, its population exploding from 69,000 in 1910 to 208,000 in 1920. People came for the jobs in the rubber factories from many places, including Europe. Of those 208,000, almost one-third were immigrants and their children.