Harvey S. Firestone

Harvey S. Firestone was an American businessman who founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in 1900 and helped build it into a major tire manufacturer.

Connect

Firestone Tire and Rubber Company: An American tire manufacturer founded by Harvey S. Firestone in 1900. Firestone established this company as the central business of his career.
Pneumatic tire: A tire that uses compressed air to cushion a vehicle and maintain contact with the road. Firestone’s business depended on producing pneumatic tires for growing automobile use.
Henry Ford: An American industrialist who founded the Ford Motor Company and advanced automobile mass production. Firestone and Ford maintained a close business and personal relationship around automobile production.
Firestone Liberia: A Liberian rubber plantation and processing operation established by the Firestone company. The enterprise made Firestone’s company a major force in Liberia’s economy and land use.
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company: An American tire manufacturer founded in Akron, Ohio, in 1898. Goodyear was Firestone’s principal Akron rival as automobile tire production expanded.
Columbian Harness Company: A harness manufacturer where Harvey S. Firestone worked before entering the tire trade. His work there led him to sell tires and develop his own business.
Ford Model T: A mass-produced automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company from 1908 to 1927. Firestone supplied tires for Ford vehicles, linking his company to mass production.
Thomas Edison: An American inventor and businessman associated with electric lighting, sound recording, and industrial research. Edison was Firestone’s friend and fellow member of the group known as the Vagabonds.
Liberian rubber industry: The cultivation and processing of natural rubber in Liberia for domestic and export markets. Firestone’s plantation became central to the country’s rubber sector.
Benjamin Goodrich: An American industrialist who founded the B. F. Goodrich Company, an early tire and rubber manufacturer. Goodrich established a competing Akron rubber business before Firestone founded his company.