The Rubber Bowl, Akron's former sports and entertainment hub, finally vanishes from view
Visitors to this weekend's FirstEnergy All-American Soap Box Derby World Championship at Derby Downs will notice the giant, moonlike crater nearby that was once the site of the famed Rubber Bowl.
The 35,000-seat stadium hosted events including Akron Zips football games. legendary concerts, the circus and church services over a seven-decade run. The Rubber Bowl, abandoned since 2008, laid unused and decaying for a decade before the city began demolishing the site in June 2018. The structure however, was only partially torn down — with the south and east sections of the stadium surviving the initial demolition because these sections also served as structural support for George Washington Boulevard.
Last November, Akron City Council approved work to remove the remainder of the stadium's ruins from view. That portion of demolition began at the end of April.
What's the current status of the Rubber Bowl's demolition?
According to Sean Vollman, deputy mayor for integrated development, the demolition of the Rubber Bowl is wrapping up, with construction crews working on grading and seeding the site. This process should take about a month.
"The grading and seeding of the site is for beautification purposes for the time being until another property is built," Vollman said. "Construction methods included punching holes in the concrete bleachers for drainage, and then covering them and grading with dirt fill as well as removing the carpet off the field and grading the field dirt."
The latest phase of the demolition project was funded by $750,000 in grants from the state's demolition and site revitalization program, awarded earlier this year. The Rubber Bowl is one of hundreds of blighted or vacant sites being torn down through the program.
What will happen to the former Rubber Bowl site?
Preliminary discussions about the future of the former Rubber Bowl site have been held, but nothing has been finalized yet, Vollman said. He hopes that an announcement happens soon.
Why was the Rubber Bowl abandoned?
The University of Akron, which purchased the stadium from the city in 1971, moved to InfoCision Stadium to be closer to campus and away from the poor conditions of the stadium. The Zips played their last game there on Nov. 13, 2008, a 43-40 four-overtime loss to the University of Buffalo.
Team 1 Marketing of Canton paid the University of Akron $38,000 for the stadium in 2013 for the chance to bring a United States Football League franchise to Akron. These plans never materialized, and the city subsequently regained ownership early in 2018 from the Summit County Land Bank, which received the property from Team 1 in late 2017 after Team 1 could not pay back taxes.
What happened to the Heisman Lodge?
The nearby Heisman lodge, built in 1934, originally served as a shelter house for winter athletes and was later used by the University of Akron and the nearby Soap Box Derby. It had been deserted since 2013 before demolition crews earlier this year razed the building named after John W. Heisman, the namesake of college football's marquee player trophy who had coached at UA when it was known as Buchtel College. This demolition was also funded by the state's demolition and site revitalization program.
Reporter Anthony Thompson can be reached at ajthompson@gannett.com, or on Twitter, @athompsonABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Demolition of last ruins of Akron's Rubber Bowl is nearly complete
