A tale of two tire makers

Both companies are over 100 years old. Both have humble roots that began in Akron. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. was started in 1898. Cooper Tire's roots date back to 1914. It was a big step for Goodyear when in 1907 it sold 1,200 sets of tires to Henry Ford for use on the Model T automobile. By 1916, Goodyear had become the world's largest tire maker. Goodyear is still headquartered in Akron. Today, it is the third-largest tire maker in the world, manufacturing products in 46 plants in 21 countries. It employs about 62,000 people. Only Bridgestone, of Japan, and Michelin, of France, are bigger. Cooper Tire reported employing nearly 9,000 in 2020. It has manufacturing, sales, distribution, technical and design operations within its family of companies in 15 countries around the world. Cooper is 13th-largest in the world when it comes to tire production. Cooper's roots extend back to two brothers-in-law, J.F. Schaefer and C.E. Hart, who were among the company's officers for decades. In 1914, they bought a tire patch, tire cement and tire repair kit business called M and M Manufacturing Co., in Akron. They were the company's only full-time employees. Their wives worked part-time. A Cooper brand tire would not be made for six years. A tire-making company bearing the Cooper name was still seven years away. What led the brothers-in-law to Findlay was their purchase of a bigger company, a tire-making business called Giant Tire & Rubber Co., in 1915. It would employ 29 soon, and Schaefer and Hart reportedly did not want to match the bigger wages paid by Akron companies.