Tire industry
As coal production diminished in the first quarter of the 20th
century, the auto-industry moved into Cumberland and promised new
jobs for former miners. Kelly-Springfield Tire Company came to
Cumberland to manufacture tires in 1921. At its peak the company
employed well over 2,000 people.
The Kelly Springfield Tire Company, founded in Springfield, Ohio by
Edwin Kelly and Arthur Grant in 1894, experienced near continuous
growth during the beginning of the 20th Century. In 1916 the
Kelly-Springfield's President, Van Cartwell, decided to build a new
plant in Cumberland, Maryland. 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 new plant site comprised 81 acres. 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 made at the
Cumberland plant on April 2, 1921. The Kelly-Springfield Tire
Company grew.
Fourteen years later, in 1935, the Kelly-Springfield Tire Company
was sold to The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. Edmund S. Burke
became president. He served as president from 1935 until 1959. The
company operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of
Goodyear.
The company continued to grow until 1962. At this time
Kelly-Springfield/Goodyear added a new plant in Tyler, Texas.
Another plant was built in 1963 at Freeport, Illinois. A third
plant in 1969 in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
In 1987, just 66 years after it made the first Kelly-Springfield
tire in Cumberland, the plant was closed. In that same year the Lee
Tire & Rubber Company came under the control of
Kelly-Springfield.
In November 1987, the company's corporate offices were moved to a
new facility on Willowbrook Road in Cumberland and later
transferred to GoodYear Corporate Headquarters in Ohio.
The original plant site was returned to the City of Cumberland.
Much of the factory and most of the outbuildings have been torn
down. The site now houses a branch of the Cumberland YMCA and the
Riverside Industrial Park and Allegany County Offices.
Some additional information on the History of The Kelly Springfield
Tire Co. at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kelly_Springfield_Tire_Company
The Micro-Cache you seek is placed Overlooking the location of the
former Kelly Springfield Tire Company.
Caution as there is a small shoulder in which to park but with
little or no traffic this should not be a problem.
Cache contains Log and Stash note only so BYOP
Congratulations to KG8GN and Visitor for the
FTF !!!