Akron Stories project recounts city's roots as Rubber Capital of the World

AKRON—The Akron Stories Project continues to commemorate the history of the rubber industry in the city by recording and sharing stories from some who worked in the industry and from friends and families of those who have passed.

Akron's history in the rubber and tire manufacturing industry is well over a century old, beginning with Goodrich Corp. (1870) and the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (1898). Many more tire manufacturers would follow in the early 1900s including Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., Swinehart Tire & Rubber Co., Mohawk Rubber Co., General Tire and Seiberling Rubber Co., among others.

The Akron Stories project got underway in 2019 to bring that history back to the forefront. A short four years later, the project has identified more than 2,000 stories for potential development and has produced 100 stories that are ready and can be listened to or viewed. The goal is to develop 300 to 500 by Akron's bicentennial in 2025.

In addition to the stories, in the spring of 2021, the Akron Rubber Worker Statue, a 12-foot-tall bronze statue of a rubber worker, was dedicated along with a kiosk where people can listen to stories about Akron's rubber workers and their contribution to the industry and the city.

The statue was inspired by a photo used on the cover of the book "Wheels of Fortune: The Story of Rubber in Akron," written by Steve Love and David Giffels, then writers for the Akron Beacon Journal. Published in 1999, the book chronicled the rise of the rubber industry in the heart of Summit County.

While the Akron Stories project relates the experiences of people who had family working in the industry, the story of how the project began is one destined to become part of the city's rubber history as well.

Miriam Ray was retired and looking for a meaningful project to become involved with, and she found the perfect one in honoring the rubber industry workers. The project had two objectives. One was to get the Akron Rubber Worker statue made and installed, and the second was to record the many stories from people who worked in the industry—or from their friends and family.

"I'm a woman of faith, and because of that, I felt driven to do this project," Ray said. "I also had family who worked in the industry. Plus, I strongly felt that it was important to honor the rubber workers and to get their stories out so people could hear them.

"We are three generations from a lot of that history, so if we didn't get the stories recorded now, they may be lost forever. It was the passion for the stories that allowed me to continue to move the project forward. One example is a 100-year-old woman I interviewed. She worked in Patch Rubber and helped make patches that were used to repair tires for vehicles used during the war. Stories like hers are just remarkable."

Getting the statue sculpted was one of the first steps in the project. Miriam's mother was from Zanesville, Ohio, and Miriam and her husband Carter knew a well-known sculptor from that area named Alan Cottrill. He was well known for creating multiple figural sculptures for state and capital buildings, and the Jim Thome statue at Progressive Field.

Carter commissioned Cottrill to sculpt a maquette, or model, of the proposed statue as a birthday gift for Miriam. It depicts a young man with a partially wrapped tire. Miriam took the maquette to presentations to give people an idea of what a full-size sculpture might look like.

Another who played a central role in driving the Akron Stories project is Mac Love, owner of Art x Love L.L.C., a creative intelligence agency in Akron and Cleveland that works with cities, neighborhoods, non-profits, and national and international organizations on equity-driven projects that improve the quality of life.

Originally, the plan was to fund the statue through the sale of commemorative bricks on the walkway around it. When Love started assisting with the project, he found a different path.

"I helped Miriam consolidate her strategy and three months later, the city of Akron agreed to fully fund the statue," Love said. "The city said that Miriam could continue to sell the bricks to fund the oral history project."

Love added that the city of Akron contributed to many of the components, including the construction of the roundabout; the multi-tiered foundation the statue stands on (which originally was going to be a fountain); and for the statue itself. The city also paid for the bench in the commemorative brick area as well as the signage recognizing the contribution of women and African Americans to the rubber industry.

There is a debate over who the young man is that the statue is fashioned after. A second debate is ongoing about what he is doing with the tire he is holding. Some say he was carrying a tire to the curing room while others thought he was holding a finished tire.

"I've talked to tire builders from various generations and the consensus among them is that the young man is carrying a tire to the curing room. You can see the metal interior rim and the rubber is wrapped in paper. In those days, the tires would be carried by the younger employees to the curing room, which was not always located in the same building. They wrapped the tire to keep it from attracting any contaminants as it was carried to the next step in production," Love said.

Part two of the project is the Akron Stories oral history side, which is independently funded through the sale of the commemorative bricks.

"Brick sales pay for the bricks, the interviews, archival research, video production, purchase of the kiosk, development of the custom-designed museum-quality touchscreen application that runs on the kiosk, and all marketing and public communications related to the project (including the website, social media, and public events)," Love said.

The purchased bricks are installed in an area by the Akron Summit County Public Library along with a kiosk featuring 50 stories for viewing or listening. The kiosk also has a directory for locating the installed bricks.

"We've had calls from people across the United States for the brick sales. People have been moved by the bricks and have sent personal items to place on their loved one's brick and asked us to send photos of the items with the brick," Ray said.

Ray went on to say the Akron Stories project has been an incredible and memorable journey for her.

"It's been a project that has been motivated by my passion for the rubber workers and for history itself. Mac has been a driving force in the project. He knew all the different aspects of such a project, and it was amazing to watch him work," Ray said.

Love has written many grant applications and has been involved with the branding and packaging design work. Plus, he understands the business and creative responsibilities of how to conduct responsible and accurate research. In addition, Love has conducted many interviews, taken commemorative brick orders and helped people identify their personal family history and find dates for meaningful events, such as when a family member retired.

"Akron Stories is a tremendous educational and cultural resource This has been a community effort. At its peak, the rubber industry employed 70,000 people Akron-wide. It's not just about the tire companies, it's also about aerospace, the women who worked during wartime, it's about blimps and inflatables, latex gloves, rubber bands, canning machines and dental equipment. It touches many aspects of the Akron life," Love said.

He added that many people think they can't purchase a brick because their relative was a secretary or administrative assistant and didn't work in the manufacturing of tires. The project has a wide span and includes all the people related to the rubber industry.

The project also has progressed because of the help of local leaders from organizations such as the Akron Summit County Public Library, the Summit County Historical Society and the University of Akron.

"We have also gone to the University of Akron's archive and Bridgestone's archive and converted 16 mm film to digital format," Love said. "Much of the video we have used has not been seen since it was first shown or used on television. People can listen to the full recordings at the University of Akron's archive."

The stories are interesting, funny, resilient, diverse and overwhelmingly positive. Love mentioned that most of the story videos have gotten 3,000 to 8,000 views within the first week they get posted online, with some going viral with certain groups such as those on Facebook.

Ray said her hope is to hear more stories from people in the suburbs that may have family and friends that were or are in the rubber industry.

"I think the Akron Stories project can be a revelation," Love said. "The goal of developing 300 to 500 stories, I think, will make for a good representation of the over 100-year history.

"The stories are from multiple generations of people who had a special work ethic, with a special set of values—a blue-collar, and highly diverse work force that rallied around the community."

If interested in purchasing a brick or to get more information about the Akron Stories project, call 330-238-8588 or email [email protected].