Investigators look for cause of Wednesday fire that destroyed former Akron rubber factory
A piece of Akron history was lost in a downtown blaze Wednesday night that burned for hours.
The former American Rubber & Tire Co. Plant was destroyed in the fire that consumed the three-story factory.
The building was already engulfed in flames with fire coming from the windows and smoke from the roof by the time the first firefighters arrived at the dead end of Beech Street, near the Courtyard by Marriott Akron Downtown and the Interbelt Nite Club, around 7:30 p.m.
The flames from the fire could be seen by motorists on the All-America Bridge and state Route 8, and the glow and smoke could be seen for miles.
Akron Fire Lt. Joel Price said dozens of firefighters fought the fire for hours and were still on the scene into Thursday putting out so-called hotspots that would flare up.
"This was not your typical house fire," he said.
The building was vacant, Price said, and thankfully away from any other structures.
There were no injuries.
Price said the cause of the fire is under investigation.
Since the building was fully engulfed, he said, fire crews had to take a defensive stance in battling the blaze and did not venture inside.
There was no evidence of any toxic chemicals being stored inside of the building.
Price said the age of the building contributed to its demise as the wooden floors and large timbers used in its construction, along with decades of dust, fueled the flames.
History of the old Ace Rubber factory
The property along the Ohio & Erie Canal goes back to the earliest days of Akron.
The Aetna Mill, built by Samuel A. Wheeler and John C. Mitchell, operated on the site from 1838 until it burned down in 1853. A new flour mill was built in 1857, but it burned down in 1899.
The American Rubber & Tire Co., capitalized at $200,000, bought the old mill property at 100 Beech St. in 1910 with Adam Duncan serving as president.
“The American Rubber company, the newest addition to Akron’s already large collection of rubber companies, began operations today for the first time with a working force of about 50 men,” the Beacon Journal reported Feb. 6, 1912. “The new company will manufacture inner tubes, repair stock and five-minute cure cement.”
There were several expansions over the years at the 3-acre site. It survived several industrial fires.
By 1925, the factory produced 900 tires, 1,400 tubes and 3,100 pairs of bathing slippers each day. It also made swimming tubes, air bags and football bladders.
The company advertised its most popular brand, American-Akron Tires, with the slogan “Built Stronger — They Last Longer.”
In 1928, the manufacturer flipped its name from the American Rubber & Tire Co. to the American Tire & Rubber Co. after falling into receivership. It announced it was going out of business in October 1929, just a couple of weeks before the U.S. stock market crash.
The complex served as a storage site and trucking terminal before returning to rubber.
Floyd C. Snyder, a Massillon native who had served as president of American Tire, founded Ace Rubber Products in 1935 at the old factory.
Ace became one of the nation’s leading manufacturers of floor mats for automobiles. The company also produced rubber stair treading, landing mats, welcome mats, garage floor mats and fender flaps for trucks.
The Beech Street factory employed 200 people by the 1950s. During peak production, it boasted $4 million in sales.
Ace Rubber shifted product lines several times over the decades. In the 1980s, its products included rubber mats for the on-deck circles of Major League Baseball teams. It also manufactured mats for animals at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
It had about 30 employees by the 1990s.
Ace was still producing rubber products at the Beech Street site as recently as 2016. The building has stood vacant for several years.
Reporters Craig Webb and Mark J. Price contributed to this article.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Firefighters responding to former rubber factory fire in downtown Akron
