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 Staff photo/Katie Yantis: A truck dumps dirt along the Miami and Erie Canal towpath where it crosses Ohio 66. The project will make it easier for those using the towpath to cross Ohio 66.
By KATIE YANTIS
Staff Writer
ST. MARYS — Hiker, bikers and walkers in the region will notice a
difference in a few sections of the Miami and Erie Canal towpath trail
starting this week.
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Local Plant Helps Growth, Development |
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Tuesday, 30 June 2009 |
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 Photo provided: This is an ad that appeared in a 1944 edition of The Evening Leader announcing hiring for Goodyear. By ANGELA WEAVER
Staff Writer
ST. MARYS — For almost 70 years, the Goodyear-St. Marys plant was an industrial staple for the city of St. Marys — drawing in employees, adding to various industries and helping area organizations.
In 1939, the Akron-based Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company broke ground on the former Carl Leitz farm along state Route 66 for the Goodyear-St. Marys plant, with the address of 115 South Wayne St.
“I would think at that time, the city offered so much land, and you have got to have the workforce,” local historian George Neargarder said of why the corporation chose St. Marys for the plant site. “We’re primarily a German community and most Germans are good workers.”
Construction for the original 50,000-square foot building began in September 1939, and was completed by December of that year. Two weeks after the plant opened with a production crew and staff of 89, the first shipment of molded rubber goods was sent out of the plant on Jan. 15, 1940.
By February 1940, the second large building at the site was under construction and during this time, three shifts of personnel — of approximately 150 people — sustained production at the plant. The second building housed the first Pliofilm, a packaging film, and went into operation on March 25, 1940.
In June of that year, another expansion was authorized because of the demand for industrial and automotive goods. The expansion was completed in September 1940 and it doubled the size of the plant and increased employment.
The plant hit its peak capacity when the United States entered World War II in 1941 with another expansion into the production of military goods, which continued for the duration of the war. Some items produced included tank blocks, bushings and seals for military tanks and plans.
“In August 1941, the Goodyear blimp came to town,” Neargarder said. “It landed at New Knoxville Airport and was the first trip to the plant since the plant was established in 1939.”
During the war, the Pliofilm plant began making waterproof cloth for Army tents and began making “Plicote,” a lead foil lamination and resin coating for moisture-proof packaging for defense products. Also during the war, the plant was one of the 4,283 plants to receive the Army-Navy “E” Award for its military production.
Neargarder noted that a lot of women worked at the plant, including his mother who was a nurse, and during war time, the plant placed a lot of ads in the local paper looking for employees.
“The Army took a lot of good people away form us,” he said. “They needed people who weren’t in service.”
In January 1943 the plant opened a branch plant in Muncie, Ind., to help with production and that plant was in operation until spring 1968. In May 1950, Goodyear-St. Marys expanded again by adding a 112,000-square foot facility across the road on the east side of state Route 66 for $1 million, and once the Korean War began, the plant continued to make military products.
By 1960, Goodyear-St. Marys earned the title of the largest molded and extruded rubber goods plant in the world and it had another expansion two years later with the building of a 71,000 square foot warehouse. In early 1965, the state highway was rerouted and a 70,000-square foot connection was built between the main plant and the extruded plant.
“It was the world’s largest molded and extruded rubber products plant,” Neargarder said. “It produced more than 2,200 items for the automotive, military, agricultural, railroad and appliance industries.”
In the fall of 1966 another 69,000 square foot connection was completed at the rear of the main plant and the extruded plant for $750,000. Two years later, the courtyard area between the two plant connectors was closed, which added another 68,000 square feet to the plant.
In 1971, the plant had another expansion with a 20,400-square foot addition at the rear of the main complex to house the plant’s urethane production and its Jeep repair section. The next year, an additional 50,000 square feet was added to the warehouse.
After the last expansion, the Goodyear-St. Marys complex spanned more than 18.5 acres and employed more than 1,000 people.
“They employed a lot of people,” Neargarder said, adding that the high employment numbers helped the city of St. Marys. “When they employ a lot of people, the city receives a percentage.”
He said the plant also brought in a lot of Kentuckians to St. Marys.
“They paid this guy to bring them up here,” he said, adding that the plant also recruited in West Virginia, but the majority of recruits came from Kentucky. “That’s why we have a lot of people from Kentucky. He’d go down there and he knew people you could trust.”
Neargarder noted Goodyear also made numerous donations to various organizations in the community.
Some of the items produced at the plant included automotive weather stripping, engine mounts, power brake diaphragms, pedal pads, corn picker fingers, hay rake teeth, solid rubber tires and railroad crossing pads.
In 2007, Goodyear sold the Goodyear-St. Marys plant to the Carlyle Group, which is operating the facility as Veyance Technologies. The facility continues to make engineered rubber products. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 13 July 2009 )
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