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{{Short description|American innovator and entrepreneur}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Frank Seiberling
| image = FA Seiberling co-founder of Goodyear.jpg
| birth_name = Franklin Augustus Seiberling
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1859|10|6}}
| birth_place = [[Western Star, Ohio]], US
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1955|8|11|1859|10|6}}
| death_place = [[Akron, Ohio]], US
| known_for = Co-founder of [[Goodyear Tire]]
| spouse = Gertrude Ferguson Penfield
| children = 7
}}
'''
==Biography==▼
[[File:FA Seiberling before 1900.jpg|thumbnail|right]]
▲'''F.A. Seiberling''' (October 6, 1859 – August 11, 1955) was an [[United States|American]] inventor and founder. He is most famous for co-founding the [[Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company]] in 1898 and the [[Seiberling Rubber Company]] in 1921. He also built [[Stan Hywet Hall]], a Tudor Revival mansion, now a [[National Historic Landmark]] and [[historic house museum]] in [[Akron, Ohio]].
▲==Biography==
===Career===
Son of a German American entrepreneur from Ohio,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cityofnorton.org/General%20Info/History/AreaHistory.htm |title=Norton Area History |
Many businesses failed in the [[Panic of 1896|panics of the 1890s]], including the street railway company owned by Seiberling's father. In 1898, Seiberling was jobless, nearing forty years old, with a wife and three children. He learned of the availability of an old strawboard factory in East Akron, which he purchased, together with the {{convert|7|acre|m2}} it stood on, for $13,500.<ref name="HofF"/> He borrowed $3,500 for a down payment from a brother-in-law, Lucius C. Miles.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.goodyear.com/corporate/history/history_overview.html |title=Goodyear: History Overview |
While Seiberling and his brother Charles were the co-founders of the [[Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company]], its first president was David E. Hill, a business associate who purchased $30,000 of the company's initial stock. In 1899, Raymond C. Penfield, another brother-in-law, became the second president of the company; Lucius C. Miles followed in the position in 1900. In 1906,
In 1921, Goodyear was refinanced and reorganized, and Frank and Charles Seiberling resigned from the company. Frank Seiberling then began the [[Seiberling Rubber Company]] in [[Barberton, Ohio]]. During his lifetime, Seiberling became famous for his fair treatment of workers.<ref name="OHC"/> In 1985, he was inducted into the Tire Industry Hall of Fame as a member of its inaugural class.
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[[File:Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Akron.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Akron's Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, in which Seiberling was influential<ref>[http://www.holytrinityakron.org/about/church-history.html History], Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 2012. Accessed 2013-05-19.</ref>]]
In June 1911, Seiberling announced that he was financing an attempt at a transatlantic airship flight, to be headed by [[Melvin Vaniman]].<ref name="AirFunding"
During his lifetime,
He was also involved in the following
▲• Goodyear Heights Phase I – Developer 1910
▲• Akron Settlement Association – Founding Member 1911, Trustee 1912-1914
▲• Sumner Homes for the Aged – Founding Member 1911, Trustee 1911-1955
▲• Buchtel College (now University of Akron) – Trustee 1911-1914
▲• Akron Institute for the Blind – Founding Member 1912
▲• Charity Organization Society – Founding Member 1912, President 1912-1913
▲• Trinity Lutheran Church – Donor of Rebuilding Fund 1913
▲• Lincoln Highway Association – Founding Member 1913, President 1918-1921
▲• Heidelberg College – Trustee 1913-1936
▲• People’s Hospital – Founding Member 1914, Director Board of Directors 1914-1937, Honorary Board Member 1937-1955
▲• U.S. Chamber of Commerce – Director Wisconsin, Illinois & Ohio Region 1915-1918, Chairman of the Highways Committee 1921
▲• Lincoln Memorial University – Trustee 1915-1935
▲• American Red Cross – Vice-Chairman 1916
▲• Western Reserve Academy – Trustee 1916-1936
▲• Fairlawn Heights – Developer 1917
▲• Fairlawn Country Club – Founding Member 1917
▲• Red Cross, Akron Chapter – Vice President 1917
▲• City of Akron Americanization Committee – Chairman, 1918
▲• Akron War Chest Drive (Community Fund) – Campaign Manager 1918
▲• Metropolitan Park Board – Founding Member 1921, Trustee 1921-1935
▲• Rubber Manufacturers Association – President 1929
▲F.A.'s private home [[Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens]], a Tudor Revival home built in 1915, remains in Akron and is now a National Historic landmark and historic house museum open to the public. Originally the site encompassed approximately 3,000 acres of land. Portions of the property were broken off during Frank's lifetime to create the Fairlawn Heights neighborhood and Sand Run Metro Park. Today the 501(c)3 museum maintains 70 acres including the 64,500 square foot historic manor home, five service buildings and thirty acres of historic gardens designed by Warren Manning.<ref>http://www.stanhywet.org</ref>
===Personal life===
Seiberling was born on October 6, 1859, in Western Star (present day Norton), Ohio, a community a few miles southwest of Akron, in [[Summit County, Ohio]]. He was the second of nine children born to John Frederick and Catherine Miller Seiberling.
His grandson, [[John F. Seiberling]], Jr., was a U.S. congressman from Ohio.
==Further reading==▼
*French, Michael. "Structure, Personality, and Business Strategy in the U.S. Tire Industry: The Seiberling Rubber Company, 1922–1964." ''Business History Review.'' 67:3 (Summer 1993).▼
==References==
{{Reflist}}
▲==Further reading==
▲*{{cite journal |last1=French
== External links ==
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[[Category:Heidelberg University (Ohio) alumni]]
[[Category:American chief executives]]
[[Category:20th-century American inventors]]
[[Category:American philanthropists]]
[[Category:American people of German descent]]
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