Benjamin Goodrich
Encyclopedia
Benjamin Franklin Goodrich (November 4, 1841 – August 3, 1888) was an American industrialist in the rubber industry.
Dr. Goodrich was born to Anson and Susan Goodrich in Ripley, New York
. He was educated as a physician; he received his M.D. from Western Reserve College
in Cleveland, Ohio
. B. F., as he was known, served as a surgeon with the Union Army in the Civil War
.
After the war he reached a licensing agreement with Charles Goodyear
, and bought the Hudson Rubber Company in partnership with J.P. Morris. The company, located in Melrose, New York
, failed. In 1870 he moved to Akron, Ohio
to found the company that still bears his name, BF Goodrich
. The radial tire was designed by an advertising employee in his company.
Benjamin Goodrich was the first man in Akron, Ohio to own a telephone. He acquired one as a gift from Alexander Graham Bell
in 1877. The telephone was connected from Goodrich's house on Quaker street to his factory on Rubber street.
Benjamin F. Goodrich
AKA Benjamin Franklin Goodrich
Born: 4-Nov-1841
Birthplace: Ripley, NY
Died: 3-Aug-1888
Location of death: Akron, OH
Cause of death: unspecified
Remains: Buried, Lake View Cemetery, Jamestown, NY
Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Business, Doctor
Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Founder of Goodrich Corporation
Military service: US Army (Ninth New York Calvary, Civil War)
Benjamin Franklin Goodrich was born in a small farming town, orphaned at the age of eight, and raised thereafter by his uncle. He studied at Cleveland Medical College (now Case Western), and served as a battlefront surgeon for the Union Army in the Civil War. After a few years of a struggling medical practice, he went to work in Pennsylvania's oilfields, then became a real estate speculator. In 1869 he used most of his real estate profits to purchase the Hudson River Rubber Company, a small business in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. The following year Goodrich accepted an offer of $13,600 from the citizens of Akron, Ohio, to relocate his business there.
According to legend, Goodrich had seen a friend's home burn to the ground, with firefighters rendered helpless because their leather hoses had frozen and cracked. So once settled in Akron, his company began producing cotton-wrapped rubber hose, impervious to freezing. A few years later Goodrich started selling garden hoses (allowing bucket-less garden watering) and bicycle tires. Still, the company teetered near bankruptcy and went through numerous name changes, and its success was still uncertain when Goodrich died at the age of 46, in 1888.
Business began booming at BF Goodrich Company a few years after his death, when the company introduced a pneumatic tire that could bear the speeds and loads of the emerging automobile market. Over subsequent decades, Goodrich company chemists invented plasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in 1926, synthesized rubber in 1937, and built early space suits for NASA astronauts in the 1960s. Now renamed Goodrich Corporation, the company abandoned the tire business in 1988, and describes itself as "a global supplier of systems and services to the aerospace, defense and homeland security markets". The brand name Goodrich now appears on tires made by Michelin.
Father: Anson Goodrich (b. 15-Apr-1792, d. 17-Jun-1847)
Mother: Susannah Dinsmoor Goodrich (b. 12-Jan-1799, m. Apr-1816)
Wife: Mary Elizabeth Marvin Goodrich (b. 3-Jul-1841, m. 4-Nov-1869)
Son: Charles Cross Goodrich (Goodrich chemist, b. 3-Aug-1871, d. 1932)
Son: Marvin Goodrich (b. 1872, d. infancy)
Daughter: Isabella Goodrich Breckinridge (b. 8-Feb-1874, married son of John C. Breckinridge, d. 1972)
Son: Daniel Marvin Goodrich (Goodrich executive, b. 22-Jun-1876, d. 1950)
Medical School: MD, Case Western Reserve University (1860)
Scholar: Surgery, University of Pennsylvania (1863)
Goodrich Founder & CEO (1870–88)
Dr. Goodrich was born to Anson and Susan Goodrich in Ripley, New York
Ripley, New York
Ripley is a town on Lake Erie in the westernmost part of Chautauqua County, New York, USA. The population was 2,636 at the 2000 census. The town was named after General Eleazer Wheelock Ripley. There are no incorporated villages in the town, but there is one CDP: Ripley.- History :Ripley was...
. He was educated as a physician; he received his M.D. from Western Reserve College
Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA...
in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
. B. F., as he was known, served as a surgeon with the Union Army in the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
After the war he reached a licensing agreement with Charles Goodyear
Charles Goodyear
Charles Goodyear was an American inventor who developed a process to vulcanize rubber in 1839 -- a method that he perfected while living and working in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1844, and for which he received patent number 3633 from the United States Patent Office on June 15, 1844Although...
, and bought the Hudson Rubber Company in partnership with J.P. Morris. The company, located in Melrose, New York
Melrose, New York
Melrose is a hamlet of the Town of Schaghticoke, located about 5 miles north of Troy, and about 6 miles east of Mechanicville. It is about 30 minutes from Albany, 20 minutes from Clifton Park, and 10 minutes from Troy. Centered around State Route 40, it is a small, quiet town....
, failed. In 1870 he moved to Akron, Ohio
Akron, Ohio
Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...
to found the company that still bears his name, BF Goodrich
Goodrich Corporation
The Goodrich Corporation , formerly the B.F. Goodrich Company, is an American aerospace manufacturing company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in Akron, Ohio in 1870 as Goodrich, Tew & Co. by Dr. Benjamin Franklin Goodrich. The company name was changed to the "B.F...
. The radial tire was designed by an advertising employee in his company.
Benjamin Goodrich was the first man in Akron, Ohio to own a telephone. He acquired one as a gift from Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone....
in 1877. The telephone was connected from Goodrich's house on Quaker street to his factory on Rubber street.
Benjamin F. Goodrich
AKA Benjamin Franklin Goodrich
Born: 4-Nov-1841
Birthplace: Ripley, NY
Died: 3-Aug-1888
Location of death: Akron, OH
Cause of death: unspecified
Remains: Buried, Lake View Cemetery, Jamestown, NY
Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Business, Doctor
Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Founder of Goodrich Corporation
Military service: US Army (Ninth New York Calvary, Civil War)
Benjamin Franklin Goodrich was born in a small farming town, orphaned at the age of eight, and raised thereafter by his uncle. He studied at Cleveland Medical College (now Case Western), and served as a battlefront surgeon for the Union Army in the Civil War. After a few years of a struggling medical practice, he went to work in Pennsylvania's oilfields, then became a real estate speculator. In 1869 he used most of his real estate profits to purchase the Hudson River Rubber Company, a small business in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. The following year Goodrich accepted an offer of $13,600 from the citizens of Akron, Ohio, to relocate his business there.
According to legend, Goodrich had seen a friend's home burn to the ground, with firefighters rendered helpless because their leather hoses had frozen and cracked. So once settled in Akron, his company began producing cotton-wrapped rubber hose, impervious to freezing. A few years later Goodrich started selling garden hoses (allowing bucket-less garden watering) and bicycle tires. Still, the company teetered near bankruptcy and went through numerous name changes, and its success was still uncertain when Goodrich died at the age of 46, in 1888.
Business began booming at BF Goodrich Company a few years after his death, when the company introduced a pneumatic tire that could bear the speeds and loads of the emerging automobile market. Over subsequent decades, Goodrich company chemists invented plasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in 1926, synthesized rubber in 1937, and built early space suits for NASA astronauts in the 1960s. Now renamed Goodrich Corporation, the company abandoned the tire business in 1988, and describes itself as "a global supplier of systems and services to the aerospace, defense and homeland security markets". The brand name Goodrich now appears on tires made by Michelin.
Father: Anson Goodrich (b. 15-Apr-1792, d. 17-Jun-1847)
Mother: Susannah Dinsmoor Goodrich (b. 12-Jan-1799, m. Apr-1816)
Wife: Mary Elizabeth Marvin Goodrich (b. 3-Jul-1841, m. 4-Nov-1869)
Son: Charles Cross Goodrich (Goodrich chemist, b. 3-Aug-1871, d. 1932)
Son: Marvin Goodrich (b. 1872, d. infancy)
Daughter: Isabella Goodrich Breckinridge (b. 8-Feb-1874, married son of John C. Breckinridge, d. 1972)
Son: Daniel Marvin Goodrich (Goodrich executive, b. 22-Jun-1876, d. 1950)
Medical School: MD, Case Western Reserve University (1860)
Scholar: Surgery, University of Pennsylvania (1863)
Goodrich Founder & CEO (1870–88)