1 Young Years (1920s–1930s)

Akron's location on the Erie-Ohio canal and its railroad connections had already made it an important commercial center at the time Benjamin Franklin Goodrich visited in 1869. He had planned to move his rubber factory from New York to Chicago, but the enthusiastic reception he received from local businessmen, and the development funds they offered, made him decide to locate in Akron instead.
1
B. F. Goodrich was followed by Goodyear, Firestone, and other rubber companies, whose growth paralleled the rising automobile industry. Between 1910 and 1920, Akron, touted as the “Rubber Capital of the World,” was the fastest growing city in the country. By November 1922, when Stan Ovshinsky was born, fully a third of its population were recent arrivals, mostly from Appalachia and Eastern Europe.
2
Among the latter group were Stan's parents, Ben Ovshinsky and Bertha Munitz, who each worked for a time in the rubber factories.