AKRON, a city of Ohio, U.S.A., 35m. S.-by-E. of Cleveland, on the Little Cuyahoga river ; the county seat of Summit county. It is about i,000ft. above sea-level, on one of the highest spots in the State, whence its Greek name. The surrounding country is hilly and there are 20 lakes within of the city. On its northern boundary the Big Cuyahoga river flows through a gorge of great beauty, spanned by High Level bridge. The main approach from the north and east is by the North Hill viaduct, 13 5f t. high and 2,8 I of t. in length. Akron is served by the Baltimore and Ohio, the Erie, the Pennsylvania, and the Akron, Canton and Youngs town railways. A belt line encircles the industrial section. A municipal airport is projected. The Ohio canal, abandoned by commercial traffic, supplies water to some of the industries from lakes south of the city, and serves as a pleasure route to the Portage Lake State park near by. The city covers 25.3 sq. miles. Its population in 192o was 208,435, of whom 5,58o were negroes and 38,021 foreign born; in 1926 a local census gave the popula tion as 209,5 7 2 ; in 193o the Federal census gave 2 5 5,040.
The important period in Akron's history began about 191 o. The town had been settled about 1825 and incorporated as a village in 1836; had become the county seat in 1842, and had been char tered as a city in 1865. Through the 19th century it had a normal gradual development, due at first to its position on the Ohio canal, later to the completion of the railway which is now the Erie, and still later to the manufacture of clay products and rolled oats. The pioneer rubber factory was established by Dr. B. F. Goodrich in 1869, and others came into existence with the exten sion of the uses of rubber for bicycle tyres, heels and soles, belt ings for machinery, elastic stockings, insulated wire and many other purposes. By 190o the population had increased to 42,728, and in 1910 it was 69,067.
Then began a phenomenal growth. Between 1910 and 1920 the population of the city tripled. The aggregate value of its manu factured products rose from $73,158,00o in 1909 to $558,962,000 in 1919; the average number of wage-earners in the factories increased from 15,831 to 65,o54. Postal receipts were quadrupled. All this was due chiefly to the demand for tires and other rubber products by the automobile industry. Akron's 20 rubber factories have sooac. floor area and produce 3o,000 articles, ranging from rubber bands to balloons and dirigibles, and including a daily out put of 125,000 automobile tyres. They use about half of all the crude rubber imported into the United States, or nearly 4o% of all produced in the world.
The older industries (oatmeal, matches and sewer-pipes) are still important. The town produces also puffed grains for break fast foods, chemical stoneware, porcelain insulators, toy marbles and porcelain moulds for rubber articles. During the World War more than i,000 air-craft were built by Akron companies, and the city is a centre for the production of the lighter-than-air variety. Fishing tackle, rubber-factory equipment, steel automobile rims, sewer-pipe and well-drilling machinery are other characteristic products. Salt and sulphur are refined, and zinc oxide is produced. The abnormal growth was arrested by the general business depression of 192o-21, but by 1923 recovery was well under way. In 1927 the value of the factory products ($567,482,4o7) ex ceeded the high figure of 1919.
The rapid industrial development stimulated progress in other direciions. Expenditures by the city for health and sanitation increased from $53,231 in 1910 to $444,865 in 1925; for education from $277,454 to $2,744,150. A municipal water system and a sewage-treatment plant were provided at a cost of $14,75o,000, and an imposing municipal building was erected. Experts sur veyed the public school system (1917) and prepared a city plan (1919). A city planning commission created in 1920 secured the adoption of a zoning ordinance in 1922. A large park and muni cipal golf links were presented to the city in 1924, bringing the total area in its 26 parks to 475 acres. From 1920 the charitable agencies were jointly financed by a "community chest" operated by the Better Akron Federation.
The University of Akron, which is a part of the free public school system of the city, was created in 1913, when the city council accepted, as a nucleus, the plant and endowment of Buchtel college, which had been founded in 187o and named after its chief benefactor, John R. Buchtel (1822-92), a business man of Akron. Fellowships for research in the chemistry of india rubber have been established by the Goodyear and the Firestone Tire and Rubber Companies. In 1926-27 the enrolment in the university was about 2,000.
Because of the dominating industries Akron's population has a striking preponderance of men 038.9 males to ioo females in 192o, a higher ratio than in any other large city) ; a high pro portion of skilled and semi-skilled labour; relatively high wages; and a high proportion of men engaged in gainful occupations. Of child labour and illiteracy there is little. The population was not congested, even after the period of rapid growth. Small detached or semi-detached dwellings are the rule. In 92o 45% of the homes were owned by their occupants.
A "home rule" charter went into effect Jan. 192o. Under it Akron adopted the city-manager form of government, but after four years this was discarded and the executive duties were trans ferred to a mayor elected at large. The old Portage Trail, used by the Indians in carrying their canoes from the Cuyahoga river to the Tuscarawas river in the journey from Lake Erie to the Ohio, runs through the city. It is marked at each end by com memorative tablets and bronze figures of Indians. A house once occupied by John Brown, the abolitionist, still stands in the western part of the city.