Firestone founds the tire company that helped put America on wheels

On August 3, 1900, Harvey S. Firestone incorporated the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio, starting out with only about a dozen employees. He was just 31 years old, having moved to the city earlier that year to work in the tire trade.

The young firm first sold rubber carriage and buggy tires, but the timing proved fortunate. As the automobile rapidly multiplied across American roads, Firestone shifted toward pneumatic car tires, buying its own factory and pioneering large-scale production.

Akron was already a rubber capital, home to rivals like Goodyear and Goodrich.

A turning point came in 1906, when Firestone struck a deal with his friend Henry Ford to become an original-equipment tire supplier for Ford vehicles. That partnership helped cement Firestone among the so-called “Big Four” Akron rubber companies and made the brand a household name for decades, until Bridgestone acquired it in 1988.