Harvey Samuel Firestone (December 20, 1868 - February 7, 1938) was the founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, one of the first global makers of automobile tires and an important contributor to North American economic growth in the 20th century.

Biography

Born in the small town of Columbiana, Ohio, Firestone worked for the Columbus Buggy Company in Columbus before starting his own company in 1890, making rubber tires for carriages. In 1904 Firestone joined Henry Ford to make rubber tires for the newly popular automobiles. The Ford-Firestone corporate marriage was later cemented when Henry's grandson William Clay Ford wed Martha Firestone, granddaughter of Harvey, who then became parents of current Ford Motor Company Chairman, William Clay Ford, Jr..

Firestone was concerned both with the manufacture of tires and with securing supplies of rubber from trees: At one point, the company had a rubber plantation in Liberia that covered more than 4,000 square kilometers (1 million acres). During WWII the company was called on by the U.S. Government to make artillery shells, aluminum kegs for food transport, and other rubberized military products.

The Millionaires Club

Firestone, Ford and Thomas Edison were generally considered the three leaders in American industry at the time, and often worked and vacationed together. All three were part of a very exclusive group titled "The Millionaires Club" . This was a true gentlemen’s club where one would call another in the appropriate city and ask him to purchase a building or other items for them without so much as a handshake, merely on his word.

The main library of Princeton University is named Firestone Library in his honor. It is among the largest university libraries in the world.

In 1974, Harvey Firestone was postmumously into the Automotive Hall of Fame. Firestone High School in Akron, Ohio is named in his honor.

1868 births | 1938 deaths | American businesspeople | People from Ohio

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