Firestone Tire and Rubber Company

The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is an organization established by Harvey Samuel Firestone in 1900 to supply pneumatic tires for wagons, surreys, and different types of wheeled transportation basic in the time. Firestone soon saw the tremendous potential for showcasing tires for cars. The organization was a pioneer in the large scale manufacturing of tires. Harvey Firestone had a companionship with Henry Ford. Firestone utilized this relationship to end up the first gear supplier of Ford Motor Company autos, and was likewise dynamic in the substitution market.In 1988, the organization was sold to the Japanese Bridgestone Corporation.Firestone was initially situated in Akron, Ohio, likewise the main residence of its archrival, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, and another two fair sized contenders, General Tire and Rubber and BF Goodrich. Established on August 3, 1900,the organization started operations with 12 employees.Together, Firestone and Goodyear were the biggest suppliers of car tires in North America for more than 75 years. In 1906 Henry Ford picked Firestone for Model T unique gear tires.In 1918, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Canada was consolidated in Hamilton, Ontario and in 1922, the principal Canadian-made tire moved off the line on September 15.During the '20s, Firestone delivered the Oldfield tire, named for dashing driver Barney Oldfield.In 1927, Henry Ford and tire expert Harvey Firestone took an outing to Los Angeles to choose areas for their new processing plants. Companions say Ford needed to be close to the sea and picked Long Beach and recommended Firestone go to South Gate, California. The small group southeast of Downtown was generally agribusiness at the time and Firestone discovered 40 sections of land of beanfield to house his new assembling plant. Designers Curlett and Beelman made a fantastic four-story Italianate complex, with its own particular force plant and perfect polychrome wall paintings by Gladding McBean delineating the tire and elastic making process. A year after the plant opened in 1928 it multiplied in size.

By 1954, when they added the Corporal guided rocket to their offerings, the plant was almost a million square feet. The town developed around Firestone, they named the primary road through town after Harvey, and Los Angeles turned into the main tire market in the nation. By the mid-70's Ford and GM had gigantic cutbacks as Firestone and different producers opened new plants in non-union areas like Wilson, North Carolina. After much cutting back the end came in 1980 when 1,300 specialists were laid off and the plant shut. East Los Angeles College has proposed another satellite grounds at the site. In 1928 the organization assembled a production line in Brentford, England, a long-term Art Deco milestone on a noteworthy course into the city. This shut in 1979. In 1936 the organization opened a plant in Memphis, Tennessee. With a work power surpassing 3,000 representatives, the Memphis plant was the biggest tire maker in the organization's overall operation. On July 1, 1963, the organization commended the generation of 100 million tires in Memphis. The plant was shut in 1982. Amid World War II the organization was approached by the U.S. Government to make cannons shells, aluminum barrels for sustenance transport and rubber treated military items.In the 1940s, Firestone was given a guard contract to deliver plastic cap liners. While outproduced by Westinghouse Electric regardless they made a decent lot for the M1 Helmet.