FEATURED HOUSE: 490 St. Leger Avenue

An original and well-preserved Goodyear-built Heights home, this English Cottage-style house constructed in 1920 features 3 bedrooms and 1 bath in a total of 1,282 sq. ft. The stucco exterior exudes lots of charm and much of the interior has been finished in contemporary colors. An updated kitchen includes many gourmet features, including a true professional-level cooktop. Original features like a brick fireplace and handsome staircase hall help this house retain much of its early 20th-century charm, while providing needed modern upgrades.

The home features a spacious and shady backyard with 2 patio areas that are perfect for entertaining – with a brick pizza oven, a smoking pit and a separate firepit. Basement has roughed in plumbing for bath
Notes: 490 Saint Leger Ave. Akron, OH 44305/ 3 bedrooms and 1 baths; ready to move in.  The home has gas forced air heat and includes  Professional Cooktop / Oven & Refrigerator. For more details, click HERE.

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WHEN MONSTERS ROAMED THE HEIGHTS

Back in 1921, Goodyear had already established a worldwide reputation as an innovative manufacturer, not only of tires, but of a wide range of other products—including airships. The company had been at the forefront of industrial America in other ways too; Goodyear Heights, the suburban garden neighborhood that it had created for its workers, had been a model for similar developments both in Akron and all across the country.

 So, when it came to getting those workers back-and-forth to the job, the company quickly realized that establishing a Goodyear Heights bus line was the sensible way to go. Of course, you couldn’t expect a company like Goodyear to use just any bus to serve the route, at least not for long. Soon enough, they came up with a novel way not only to move people, but also to demonstrate their technological prowess and demonstrate the performance and longevity of their most advanced pneumatic truck tires.

The company had demonstrated the tires’ heavy payload capabilities through cross-country demonstrations, and they were looking for new ways to show off the product via the heavy demands of day-in, day-out 365-days-a-year transit usage. To do this, they created a Frankenstein of a vehicle that passengers would surely never forget.

The first version was a six-wheel transport, built upon a newly-designed truck frame and driveline—topped with a Peter Witt–bodied streetcar. To gain the needed clearance for the streetcar’s relatively low wheel wells, the entire body had to be hoisted up high enough to make any of today’s 4X4 crowd proud; entry was gained through a low-slung passenger door on the curb side of the vehicle. Since the bus used a water-cooled internal combustion engine instead of electricity, a large radiator was mounted onto the front of the huge streetcar body.It didn’t take long for Goodyear’s new vehicle to get noticed. Paul Litchfield, the VP and factory manager for the company, and later to become its president, won much praise for the concept, as noted in a 1922 article in Automotive Industries:

"His conviction that the ultimate motor vehicle would be multiple-wheeled, taking the same evolution as the freight car, led to P.W. Litchfield’s working out plans for the first six-wheeled vehicles ever put into practical use in America several years ago.”

Since the six-wheel version was deemed a success, Goodyear decided to go one better in 1922, by building an eight-wheel version, with full four-wheel steering at the front. At the time, it was considered a marvel of modern engineering, though we are not so sure about how the vehicle’s looks were received by the people of Akron. Perhaps the best gauge of that is the fact that there were no successors to the eight-wheeled leviathan, and that later service routes were handled by more conventional forms of bus transport.

A line up of Goodyear delivery trucks  joins the 6-wheel version of the bus on Seiberling Field.

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FEATURED HOUSE: 1555 Hillside Terrace

This large shingle-style colonial at the corner of Brittain Road and Hillside Terrace was custom-built for its first owner in 1923, and is one of the larger homes built within the historic district. Though not an original Goodyear-built house plan, it is a unique-to-the-neighborhood design, like many of the houses on this stretch of Hillside. It fits in perfectly with the surrounding homes and has been solidly maintained. Inside, the home still retains most of its original charm, including a rustic Craftsman-style fireplace, French doors, beautiful hardwood floors and solid oak woodwork—all of which appear to be in excellent shape.

It’s possible that the house may have been originally constructed as a duplex, which could account for its generous size (3,336 sq. ft.). Currently there are two entrances; one on Brittain Rd. facing west and the other on Hillside facing south. At $92,000, it represents a lot of space for the money and could probably be converted to a spacious single family if desired. The views from the top of the hill here are very fine.

Notes: 1555 Hillside Ter. Akron, OH 44305 / Deluxe Duplex: Unit 1 (facing Brittain Rd) Rent $1,000 per month features 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, living room, dinning room and huge kitchen. Additional bonus room on 3rd floor. Some hardwood floors, basement with laundry hookup. Unit 2 (facing Hillside Rd) Rent $800 has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, living room, dining room and kitchen. Basement also has laundry hookup. 2 car attached garage. Tenants pay all utilities except water/sewer.
More info available HERE.

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