The
Kelly-Springfield Tire Company was founded in
Springfield, OhioSpringfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River, Buck Creek and Beaver Creek, approximately 45 miles west of Columbus and 25 miles northeast of Dayton...
by Edwin Kelly and
Arthur GrantFor the Scottish footballer, see Arthur Grant Arthur Grant was a British cinematographer. He succeeded Jack Asher as regular Director of Photography for Hammer Film Productions...
in 1894.
Edwin Kelly originally called the company The Rubber Tire Wheel Company because it made rubber carriage wheels. Arthur Grant was issued for his solid rubber tire in a rim channel. The tire was held on the wheel by two longitudinal wires embedded in the rubber and forming a circle of smaller circumference than the tire.
The
Kelly-Springfield Tire Company was founded in
Springfield, OhioSpringfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River, Buck Creek and Beaver Creek, approximately 45 miles west of Columbus and 25 miles northeast of Dayton...
by Edwin Kelly and
Arthur GrantFor the Scottish footballer, see Arthur Grant Arthur Grant was a British cinematographer. He succeeded Jack Asher as regular Director of Photography for Hammer Film Productions...
in 1894.
Formation
Edwin Kelly originally called the company The Rubber Tire Wheel Company because it made rubber carriage wheels. Arthur Grant was issued for his solid rubber tire in a rim channel. The tire was held on the wheel by two longitudinal wires embedded in the rubber and forming a circle of smaller circumference than the tire. The tire was an instant success because the rubber stayed on the wheel and the compound was of good quality.
Name changes
The company was sold to the McMillin group in 1899 for $1,200,000. Arthur Grant received $166,000 in stock and $33,000 in cash for his share of the company. The McMillion group renamed the new company Consolidated Rubber Tire Company and it continued under that name until 1914. The name Kelly-Springfield Tire Company was given to the
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
sales subsidiary in 1911. Consolidated's name was changed in 1914. "The" was added to the front of the name in 1932 and it became The Kelly-Springfield Tire Company.
Manufacturing was done at a plant in
Akron, OhioAkron is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. In 2008, its population was estimated to be 207,510. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the Cuyahoga River between Cleveland to the north and Canton to the south, approximately 60 miles west of...
and another plant was bought in
Wooster, OhioWooster is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Wayne County. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio approximately 50 mi SSW of Cleveland and 35 mi SW of Akron. Wooster is noted as the location of The College of Wooster...
in 1915 and used until 1921. The growth of the company continued until the president, Van Cartwell decided to build a new plant in
Cumberland, MarylandCumberland is a city in the far western portion of Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Allegany County, and the primary city of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 21,591...
. An agreement was signed on November 4, 1916. The plans called for the city of Cumberland to provide a free site and $750,000 for the plant. The city was also to make improvements for roads, water and sewerage lines and other essential construction. The plant site comprised 81 acres (33 hectares). The plant was to employ over 3,000 people with a production capacity of five times the current production capacity of the company. The first tire was built on April 2, 1921.
The Kelly Springfield Tire Company was sold in 1935 to The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and Edmund S. Burke became president. He served as president from 1935 until 1959. The company operated as a wholly owned subdivision. The company continued to grow until 1962 when it added a new plant in
Tyler, TexasTyler is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas in the United States. The city is named for President John Tyler in recognition of his support for Texas's admission to the United States...
. Another plant was built in 1963 at
Freeport, IllinoisFreeport is the county seat of Stephenson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 26,443 at the 2000 census. The mayor of Freeport is George W...
and the third plant in 1969 in
Fayetteville, North CarolinaFayetteville is a city located in Cumberland County, North Carolina. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 121,015. It is the county seat of Cumberland County, and is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a U.S...
.
Just 66 years after it made its first tire the Cumberland plant was closed in 1987. In that same year the Lee Tire & Rubber Company came under the control of Kelly-Springfield. In November 1987 the corporate offices were moved to a new facility on Willowbrook Road in Cumberland. The original plant site was returned to the city.
In 1994 The Kelly-Springfield Tire Company celebrated 100 years. At that time it was the oldest tire company in the United States.
In the 1990s, Kelly-Springfield was absorbed by parent company Goodyear and moved its corporate headquarters to Akron, Ohio.