B.F. Goodrich History:

The B.F. Goodrich Company was founded in 1870 by Benjamin Franklin Goodrich – an entrepreneur from New York, who came to Akron with a goal to establish the first rubber company west of the Appalachian Mountains. With help from members of the Akron community, he was able to raise enough capital to start his business, which would eventually grow to one of the largest and most important companies in US history. Goodrich almost went bankrupt twice, but kept pushing forward. Eventually, the invention of the pneumatic tire, and heavy rise in car manufacturing, there came a much greater need for his company across the entire country.

Over years, the company has changed its name numerous times. The company was originally called Goodrich, Tew & Co. in 1870, and was changed to the B.F. Goodrich Company in 1880, followed by BFGoodrich in the 1980s, and finally the Goodrich Corporation in 2001.

Unfortunately, BFGoodrich would eventually begin to fall apart, and by the late 1970s and early 1980s was struggling as a company. The decline led to the loss of thousands of jobs, and hit the city of Akron and surrounding regions hard economically.  

In 1983, the Akron Global Business Accelerator (now known as Bounce) was founded. The accelerator originally housed manufacturing startups, but eventually became solely a technology incubator. You can read more about Bounce Innovation Hub on their website HERE.

In 1986, BFGoodrich merged with Uniroyal. This helped the company stay afloat, and grow to become one of the largest tire and rubber manufacturers in the world. The new Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company headquarters was established as the former B.F. Goodrich corporate headquarters in Akron. After a while however, the company felt the desire to sell off much of its tire business to Michelin in 1988, allowing them to put much more focus on their other businesses, such as aerospace and chemical manufacturing.

Bounce Innovation Hub:

Pieces from the former B.F. Goodrich facility have been repurposed by a collaborative effort between Hazel Tree Design Studio and Bounce Innovation Hub as a renovation project. This project has brought new life to the first floor, with the opening of the Generator, which includes office space, co-working space, a makerspace, a café and meeting area, conference rooms, and a University of Akron esports lab. Bounce Innovation Hub itself was founded in January 2018, and is the region’s first open innovation hub serving northeast Ohio’s entrepreneurial and innovation community. The hub hosts over 50 organizations within the building. There are over 200 people constantly working and creating here.

The facility is housed in a large part of the former B.F. Goodrich facility, occupying over 300,000 square feet of the former plant. Other sections as you can see above remain abandoned and in a state of decay. It’s great to see that pieces are being saved and incorporated into new spaces.

Last year I was commissioned by Hazel Tree Design Studio to take photographs of the old BFGoodrich steam plant in Akron, Ohio. I haven’t shared any photos from it because these photos were taken specifically for an installation within the renovation of the first floor of Bounce Innovation Hub, alongside work by many other incredible artists of many different mediums. These images were not to be seen until revealed at the grand opening, which was last night. It’s so amazing to have been part of this project, and to have my work as a permanent installation within Bounce Innovation Hub.

The coal doors from the first and second images above in this post were used to frame the photographs, which are printed on white aluminum. The wall had to be built specifically to hold the weight of all of these doors. Other pieces salvaged from the plant were used in numerous designed throughout the space. Thank you to Hazel Tree Design Studio, Bounce Innovation Hub and everyone else involved. The entire space is now full of incredible furniture, murals, sculptures and other installations all created by local artists or local companies. It’s so awesome to be part of it! This is a great step forward for art and business in the city of Akron.

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Help Keep This Blog Alive:

You can help support this blog by clicking HERE and donating whatever you feel is fair. It’s of course never necessary, but if possible it’s greatly appreciated, as it will help keep this blog running, and help so that I can continue to share these places and their stories with you all! I’ve been running this site, and doing everything since 2012. I’d like to keep it that way if possible, and eventually get rid of all of the ads for an ad-free experience for all. I also have a Patreon page, but I don’t share it often, because I know I cannot provide all that much in return for everyone, other than these stories and some other small things (shout outs in books, videos, etc.) – some of this help will also be going into making other languages, as well audio books available for all of my books. I’d like to do that eventually.

OHIO’S FORGOTTEN HISTORY PART 1:

My 6th book, and first in a series of abandoned Ohio books will be released in June of this year. This first book will be the start to a 3-part series of books showcasing Ohio’s abandoned, forgotten history. Pre-orders are now closed, but you can find more info about the book HERE. Orders will open back up in June!

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GRAND OPENING PHOTO GALLERY:

View a full photo gallery from the grand opening night below: