18 Facts About Frank Seiberling

Frank Seiberling built Stan Hywet Hall, a Tudor Revival mansion, now a National Historic Landmark and historic house museum in Akron, Ohio.

In 1898, Frank Seiberling was jobless, nearing forty years old, with a wife and three children.

Frank Seiberling learned of the availability of an old strawboard factory in East Akron, which he purchased, together with the 7 acres it stood on, for $13,500.

Frank Seiberling borrowed $3,500 for a down payment from a brother-in-law, Lucius C Miles.

Frank Seiberling, he decided to open a rubber company, picked a name, and was selling stock.

Frank Seiberling would be named for Charles Goodyear, the discoverer of vulcanization, who had died penniless almost forty years before.

Frank Seiberling set up a tire building machine in a separate room on the factory floor and provided demonstrations to other tire manufacturers.

Frank Seiberling became known as the "little Napoleon" of the rubber industry because of his small stature and his unremitting determination to succeed.

Frank Seiberling then began the Seiberling Rubber Company in Barberton, Ohio.

In June 1911, Frank Seiberling announced that he was financing an attempt at a transatlantic airship flight, to be headed by Melvin Vaniman.

Frank Seiberling believed true prosperity was gained through the enlightenment and improvement of every citizen.

Frank Seiberling focused on projects that directly impacted the lives of his Goodyear employees and thereby ensured the success of Akron.

Frank Seiberling developed and underwrote the creation of Goodyear Heights, a neighborhood for factory workers; and Fairlawn Heights, a neighborhood for white-collar employees.

Frank Seiberling supported four educational institutions, his alma mater Heidelberg College, the University of Akron, Lincoln Memorial University in Cumberland Gap, Tennessee and the Western Reserve Academy a private boys school in Hudson, Ohio.

Frank Seiberling's private home Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens, a Tudor Revival home built in 1915, remains in Akron and is a National Historic landmark and historic house museum open to the public.

Frank Seiberling was born on October 6,1859, in Western Star, Ohio, a community a few miles southwest of Akron, in Summit County, Ohio.

Frank Seiberling was the second of nine children born to John Frederick and Catherine Miller Seiberling.

Frank Seiberling died in Akron on August 11,1955 of pneumonia, and is buried in Glendale Cemetery.