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Lack of attendance, move to new building are cited. Last day will be Aug. 28
By Jim Mackinnon
Beacon Journal business writer
Published on Wednesday, Aug 19, 2009
Goodyear's quirky World of Rubber museum in Akron is getting bounced out of existence.
The 61-year-old corporate museum, an homage to the history of rubber-making and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. through at least the late 1970s, had survived previous attempts to close it.
But this looks like the end for sure for the low-tech and outdated space that holds a World War II Corsair aircraft fuselage, NASA lunar buggy tire, Indy-style race cars, airship memorabilia, a replica of Charles Goodyear's workshop and more. While Goodyear keeps the museum well-maintained and clean, the exhibits have not been updated in a couple of decades.
''Somewhere in the '70s and '80s it just stopped like you see,'' said Goodyear spokesman Scott Baughman.
Goodyear on Tuesday said that executives made the decision in part to close the museum on the fourth floor of Goodyear Hall on East Market Street, across from corporate headquarters, because so few people visit it. The museum is open and free to the public. Most tours are self-guided — the museum has no curator or other staff.
Attendance ''has been dramatically declining for years,'' Baughman said. ''We can go days without activity.''
Another reason is that Goodyear Hall has been sold as part of the $900 million Goodyear headquarters and East Akron redevelopment project — the company leases the building from a new owner, California developer Industrial Realty Group.
When Industrial Realty Group founder Stuart Lichter announced plans in 2007 to buy and redevelop the Goodyear complex and build a new corporate headquarters, Lichter said he had no plans to keep the World of Rubber.
The museum's last day will be Friday, Aug. 28, Goodyear said.
While the museum will be closed, many of the attractions will be distributed in the area where the public will be able to see them, Goodyear said.
A Goodyear group worked on ideas for the museum for about a year, with the main goal of determining the best thing to do with the facility's valuable artifacts, said Baughman, a member of the group.
''The group looked at all the options,'' he said.
That included relocating the museum and upgrading the existing facility, he said.
Those options proved to be too costly, he said.
Outdated displays
Some World of Rubber exhibits give the public the wrong impression about Goodyear's current product offerings, Baughman said. Examples include displays of Goodyear's former chemicals and shoe product lines. And Goodyear is a primary sponsor of NASCAR racing and largely removed from the open-wheel racing of the Indy race cars that are exhibited inside.
Company employees have found homes for the more valuable museum displays and artifacts, Baughman said.
''We have been trying to find the right caretakers,'' he said.
Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens, built by Goodyear co-founder F.A. Seiberling, plans to display the Charles Goodyear-related items and the educational display about natural rubber.
The museum's F-4 Corsair fuselage will go to the Military Aviation Preservation Society Air Museum at Akron-Canton Airport.
Goodyear's Airship Operations will restore and display the airship-related materials at its Wingfoot Lake Airship Hangar.
In the proper hands, the museum artifacts should last a lot longer than if they had stayed in the Goodyear Hall space, Baughman said.
First-time visitors
Stormy Mataya, 18, of Wadsworth, and her boyfriend, Raymond Jackson, 18, of Akron, toured the museum for the first time on Tuesday.
''I like it. I think it's pretty cool,'' said Mataya.
She learned about the World of Rubber when she went onto the Web to find museums to visit in Akron.
''I didn't think it would be this fun. I didn't think it would be this interesting,'' said Jackson.
But Jackson said he changed his mind once he got to walk around. Jackson and Mataya said they were upset to learn the museum will be closing shortly.
''I think it's a good experience,'' Mataya said.
It's a nice place for a family to visit, Jackson said: ''Hurry up and get here before it closes.''
The museum opened in 1948 as a historical exhibit for Goodyear's 50th anniversary.
Goodyear executives in late 1999 announced plans to close the World of Rubber, saying it was old and outdated then. But while they changed their minds following employee protests, the company never followed through on plans to revitalize the museum.
''We're just not in the museum business,'' Baughman said.
Baughman said it is too early to say what Goodyear will do to promote its history in its new corporate headquarters that will be built next to the company's tech center on Martha Avenue.
Other corporations
The American Association of Museums estimates there are at least 300 corporate museums in the United States, including popular tourist destinations.
Among them are the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta and chocolate maker Hershey and its Hershey Story: The Museum on Chocolate Avenue in Pennsylvania. Computer chip giant Intel has a corporate museum in Santa Clara, Calif. Beer giant Anheuser-Busch brings in busloads of tourists to its headquarters complex in St. Louis.
Motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson spent about $75 million on a 130,000-square-foot museum that opened in July 2008 in downtown Milwaukee.
And Goodyear archrival tire maker Michelin in January opened what it calls ''l'Aventure Michelin'' in France to promote the company and its products.
Goodyear's World of Rubber is next to the Goodyear Gift Center. Hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Groups of 20 or more are asked to make reservations. The gift center will remain open after the museum is emptied.
Goodyear said before the museum closes, visitors can receive, while supplies last, free copies of two books — The Goodyear Story, by Maurice O'Reilly and The Legend of Goodyear — The First 100 years, by Jeffrey L. Rodengen.
Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com.
Goodyear's quirky World of Rubber museum in Akron is getting bounced out of existence.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Munroe Falls, Oh
Posted 06:30 AM, 08/19/2009
Never available to the public. kept it unadvertised. I did not even know it existed. No wonder.
Akron, OH
Posted 06:38 AM, 08/19/2009
I think this is a golden opportunity for Akron's city hall hero. What with his past expertise with the inventor's hall of fame, he could take this museum over, make it part of downtown Akron by buldin' a taxpayer funded museum, keep it afloat for a number of years on the backs of the taxpayers and then convert it into a new learnin' center once it closes for lack of interest.
Akron, Oh
Posted 06:53 AM, 08/19/2009
I remember going once as a child with my father who worked for Goodyear.It was at Christmas time and I thought that was the only time it was open to the public.
I felt that if they wanted visitors including me, the would do SOME advertising.
The year I went, I also saw the Smithsonion(sp?) but was more impressed with Akron's own Rubber Museum.
Hartville, OH
Posted 08:27 AM, 08/19/2009
I didnt even know the exhibit was there. What a shame that this is never going to be seen again. I think it shoukd hold a special place in the entrance of the new head quarters.
akron, oh
Posted 09:10 AM, 08/19/2009
I've been here over 55 years and never heard of the museum.
clinton, oh
Posted 10:20 AM, 08/19/2009
It appears the percentage of people who knew it existed is small.
Someone should step up and try to relocate this.
Akron was on the map due to the rubber companies.
Knowledgeable capable people exist to relocate and make this a modern and interesting museum for future generations.
Losing this type of museum would, to me be the same as dissecting and eliminating parts of a smaller Edison Museum or eliminating items from say the Henry Ford museum.
The sum of the items tells a story and should be preserved most especially for the people of Akron.
Akron, OH
Posted 01:49 PM, 08/19/2009
I have lived in the Akron area my entire life, I'm 33 and I have never heard of this museum. I'm certain if it was advertised, people might have come to it to see it.
Canton, OH
Posted 02:30 PM, 08/19/2009
It is part of our fabric. . Our Heritage. .Our Culture. .Keep it open. . .
Orrville, Oh
Posted 03:55 PM, 08/19/2009
Goodyear retiring its rubber museum; to enable Goodyear Stockholders (money marketers); to market more stock dividends (money) quarterly; in the wholesale and retail price of Goodyear product and service.
This is defiant of demands Natural Law: what Mother Nature, God, or Whatever Power decreed to be the reality of the real world, God, democracy, capitalism, the US Constitution, and free, fair, and affordable commerce.
Demanding Goodyear; every corporation, farmer, business, outsourcer sweatshop, and nonprofit, tax-exempt, organization and Church; markets the cost; in the wholesale and retail price of his or her product and service; Of every workers, consumers, and taxpayers living (including pension and health care); enabling them to love, nurse, nurture, discipline, protect, and provide for every child (job) they conceive; and fund schools, infrastructure, national security, government services, and etc.; with money derived from wages or independent business profit!
Akron, Oh
Posted 10:28 PM, 08/19/2009
It's a shame that the Akron Public School system wasn't doing field trips to the museum to teach our kids some of Akron's heritage. Guess history just isn't as important as trips to the zoo.
Norton, Oh
Posted 06:48 AM, 08/20/2009
Went there on a school field trip in 5th grade (30 years ago)....was very cool back then....sounds like it did not change much. It is a little sad....
Summit Cty, Oh
Posted 08:57 AM, 08/20/2009
Isn't it just a little strange that the first time many people in the area heard of the museum was when there was an announcement that it was closing? What's worng with this picture?
