A Garden City neighborhood for tire workers
Goodyear Heights exists because Frank A. Seiberling was tired of losing trained workers to Akron’s housing shortage. Goodyear’s board wouldn’t buy the land, so around 1910 he bought the farmland northeast of the main plant himself. Warren Manning, who also designed the grounds at Stan Hywet, laid out the streets in 1912 and 1913, choosing sweeping curves over a grid and planning for gas, electricity, telephones and streetcars.
It’s a recognized example of the Garden City Movement, where parks and open space are built into the plan. The 1918 Phase Two houses, designed by Pittsburgh architect George Schwann and written up in The Architectural Forum, were free-standing brick or stucco homes with five or six rooms, priced from $2,400 to $4,450.
Who could buy, and how
Goodyear financed many purchases through a two-mortgage plan meant to keep workers loyal. Non-employees could buy, but at a 25% higher price and without company financing. Goodyear Heights Realty also had an explicit policy against selling to Black workers, who lived instead in neighborhoods that grew up on the outskirts.
Today about 15,000 people live here, the neighborhood is nearly 60% white and 27% Black, and 56% of homes are owner-occupied. Residents describe it as “an island” bounded by Tallmadge Avenue, Route 91, the Freedom Trail and I-76, with Goodyear Heights Metro Park, Reservoir Park’s pool, Six Corners and the Linda Theatre, open since 1948, close at hand.
Neighbors keep investing. The Residents Improving Goodyear Heights Together committee commissioned seven sidewalk murals around Triangle Park in 2020, and Wikipedia notes the city has bought land for new housing, most recently along Honodle Avenue.
Selling a house built in Goodyear’s first decade
A house from the 1910s or 1920s that has been loved and maintained can sell well to buyers who want this neighborhood, and listing may be right for you. Many of the houses we hear about have other stories:
- a parent’s house, owned since the 1960s, that hasn’t been updated
- a stucco exterior that needs patching or a brick chimney that needs rebuilding
- a basement with water after a heavy rain
- a former owner-occupied home that became a rental
For an older house with structural questions, our page on selling a house with foundation problems explains how buyers price that risk. If you’re settling an estate, read selling an inherited house. If a tenant lives there, check the city rules in our Akron rental registration guide.
One long-time resident told Signal Akron her hope was simple: that Goodyear Heights stays affordable for families. Bob will walk your house with you and give you a written figure for it. Send us the address.