World of Rubber museum bounced
| August 20, 2009 | 10:01 AM
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The World of Rubber museum is being retired.
Punctured by deflated attendance over the years, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s 61-year-old corporate museum in Akron, Ohio, will close Aug. 28.
To their credit, company officials did tread lightly around the idea of closing the once-popular attraction for quite a while, trying to gauge the best approach. But they finally decided the place is too expensive to spare.
The shrine to the history of Goodyear and rubber making is located across the street from the company’s headquarters. Now that the museum has run flat, officials are divvying up the contents to various groups and individuals. The displays range from airship memorabilia to NASA lunar buggy tires. There’s even a World War II Corsair aircraft fuselage, which Goodyear helped build.
Goodyear admits that the exhibits are a little tired. In fact, the company is into NASCAR these days and not really involved with Indy cars like the ones on display. Still, it’s sad to see a museum bounced after such a long road.
Let’s hope corporate officials don’t end up kicking themselves over this decision.
Read more at ohio.com.
Just for fun:
Goodyear’s Fly the Blimp! game
Other corporate museums
- World of Coca-Cola, Georgia
- The Hershey Story: The Museum on Chocolate Avenue, Pennsylvania
- Intel Museum, California
- Harley-Davidson Museum, Wisconsin
- L’Aventure Michelin, France — click for English at top of page
Business, John Moore, Journals
airship, goodyear, Goodyear blimp, Indy car, moon buggy, nasa, rubber, tires, world of rubber, World War II Corsair
