Goodyear Heights
Quick Guide
Six Corners, the Rez, Battery B what are you talking about? Some Heights terms:
Six Corners: Intersection of Brittain, Eastland, & Eastwood
The Rez: Reservoir Park (old WaterWorks Park) that has one of the city of Akron’s drinking reservoirs (it is the mound that looks like sheet-cake frosted with turf). The Goodyear Heights Community Center & public pool (one of only two public pools run by the city) is located at 1735 Hillside Terrace. The stone community center was originally the reservoir’s caretakers home.
The water tower: Part of Reservoir Park has a water tower on it as part of the drinking water reservoir system. Gravity plays a crucial role in the flow of potable water and wastewater in the city. Many Heights residents have tales of climbing the water tower when they were younger. The water tower is also the namesake of a farmers & craft market that operates for a few weeks in the Heights each summer.
Battery B: A street named after a National Guard unit from Akron known as the “Millionaire Battery” because many members were grandsons of Akron’s industrial elite. Battery A was in Cleveland and Battery C was in Columbus.
The Brooklands: A street name that honors a British racetrack (the racetrack & vintage Goodyear logo is in an episode of Downton Abbey)
Gazebo Park: There are two gazebos and a picnic shelter in the Heights. One gazebo is at Reservoir Park. The second gazebo is at Public Square Triangle Park, where Goodyear, Malasia, and Pioneer intersect. Public Square Triangle Park is colloquially referred to as “gazebo park”.
Community garden: the Heights is home to THREE community gardens. If someone says, “the community garden”, they are most likely referring to the Goodyear Heights Community Garden located in the Goodyear Heights Metro Park. Let’s Grow Akron runs the community garden known as the Newton & Iroquois Garden down by the Heights Market & Goodyear Drive-Thru. The Shady Springs Learning Garden is the newest community garden, nestled in Shady Springs Park.
The Linda: the 1948 Linda Theatre at 1745 Goodyear Blvd. First-run movies are shown for two week blocks and tickets are always just $5.
The library: the Goodyear Branch Library at 60 Goodyear Blvd which is technically in the next neighborhood over, Middlebury. Goodyear employees wanted to go to the library on their lunch breaks, so the library was built close to the factories and not in the residential neighborhood. The oldest of the Akron-Summit Library branches, the Goodyear branch turned 100 years old in 2023.
The Goodyear Theater: unlike the Linda, the Goodyear theater is solely a live theater and music venue located by the big Goodyear sign at 1201 E. Market St.
Fiesta Pizza: a pizza and fried chicken shop; the Goodyear Heights location has the distinction of being the first to serve JoJo’s (breaded & fried potato wedges) in all of Summit County.
Alder Pond: a quiet manmade pond in the Goodyear Heights Metro Park. It is just past the Pioneer Picnic Shelter.
Blue Pond: a spring fed pond between the Goodyear Research campus and the Goodyear Heights neighborhood. In its heyday, a floating dance hall was on the pond. Blue Pond is now fenced off for safety reasons. White-tailed deer often pop over the fence.
Over by East: near East CLC, the middle & high school over on Brittain Rd
Newton: one of the thoroughfare streets that runs through the neighborhood named for a former landowner, Sam Newton. Newton is also the name of the large owl at Seiberling CLC elementary school, sitting in the indoor alcove looking out towards Brittain Rd.
Darrow: street that is typically considered the far right boundary of the Heights
Wingfoot Way: a street named after Goodyear’s popular wingfoot logo. Wingfoot Lake in Suffield, OH, is home to the blimp.
Devil strip: a unique Akron term for the strip of yard between the sidewalk and the public street. Other towns call them “tree lawns” or “hell strips”. The devil strip term derived from the narrow slice of land between two street car lines and has since been corrupted to mean another narrow strip of land.
Middlebury: the neighborhood directly west of the Heights and home to Goodyear’s factories. Middlebury & Goodyear Heights are separated by the old Akron Canton and Youngstown railroad tracks now operated by Wheeling & Lake Erie. Middlebury has the distinction of being the oldest part of Akron - in fact it grew up separate from it. With neighborhood boundaries shifting with time, Middlebury Cemetery is now in Goodyear Heights, off Newton St. and is the final resting place for seven American Revolutionary War veterans (6 soldiers and a nurse).
Airdock: the large dark blue blimp hangar at the Akron-Fulton Airport that is visible from many parts of the Heights, most notably while driving south on Brittain Rd. Built in 1929, it was once the largest building in the world without interior supports and is a historic civil engineering landmark.
Tallmadge: the city directly north of the Heights, Goodyear Heights was once considered Tallmadge (neighborhood boundaries shift). A small stone monument to Rev. Bacon and his Tallmadge congregation is viewable just tucked along the edge of the Goodyear Heights Metro Park. There is a pedestrian pathway in the Heights called Beacon’s Walk, but it is a corruption of Bacon’s Walk, and was once commonly known as the “stairway to heaven”, referencing Rev. Bacon.
Clocktower(s): there are two Goodyear clocktowers viewable in the Heights to make sure rubber workers got to work on time. The one on E. Market originally was attached to the Goodyear plant 1 building. Its bells chime every 15 minutes and began chiming again in 2023 after a two-year hiatus. The second clocktower is attached to Goodyear plant 2 on Martha Ave. and has no bells.
The Goodyear Sign: at the corner of E. Market & Goodyear Blvd, a large Goodyear logo sign sits atop the Goodyear Hall building. It was recently rewired and lit with LED lights in 2023. In the 1970’s, the sign would flash “Go, Go, Goodyear”, but now it just shines “Goodyear” in bright yellow, at night.
The East End: area around the Goodyear sign, it is an old name that has been resurrected to re-brand the area. The East End is located in the Middlebury neighborhood but is walkable from the historic phase one section of Goodyear Heights.
Phase One, Phase Two, Phase Three: the first, second, and third parts of Goodyear Heights that were originally built, starting in 1913.
Seiberling Field: the athletic playing field across from the Goodyear Research Bldg and Blue Pond. A large wooden stadium used to wrap around the far edges. In 1931, the Akron Wingfoots soccer team won the National Amateur Soccer title & part of the game, with the Heights neighborhood in the background, is captured in a short silent film.
Where to get neighborhood help, how to fix a pothole, deal with a noisy neighbor:
Akron 311: submit a request by phone (dial 3-1-1) or online to have a pothole filed or a street light fixed. You can also report street litter, high grass/weeds, and loose dogs. Please see the City of Akron 311 page for more information on types of requests you can make.
Community Resource Officer with Akron Police Department: these officers are assigned to specific neighborhoods to deal with issues that tend to ruffle feathers, like a neighbor who plays loud music after hours or parking in front of someone’s driveway. Officer K. Starks is currently assigned to Goodyear Heights. His office line is (330)375-2568 and his email is KStarks@akronohio.gov. For more immediate assistance with a non-life threatening issue, please call one of the APD non-emergency lines: 330-375-2181 or 330-375-2101.
City of Akron representation: representation on the Akron City Council includes our own Ward 10 representative and three At-Large representatives. Not sure what city ward you are in? See Akron CIty Council’s find my ward page. There are also links to watch Council meetings (Mondays) and to see agendas, the legislation archive, and other news.
Summit County District 6: our representative at the Summit County level. Issues such as property taxes and the Summit County Land Bank are at the county level. For more information, see the Summit County Council website.
Find all of your elected representatives: your precinct, City, County, State, & Federal officials are all listed on the Summit County Board of Elections website. Search by your address or name to bring up “quick links” to your sample ballot, precinct map, elected officials, and directions to your polling place.
Basic “good neighbor” stuff
Quiet hours: 9pm to 8am
No cut grass in the street: Loose grass on the sidewalk or street is a safety hazard. It is incredibly slippery, especially when wet. Pedestrians and motorcyclists can be injured by loose grass clippings in their path. Please sweep or blow clippings onto your yard (it is free fertilizer).
Pick up your dog’s poop: Poop is NOT fertilizer. Waste just from one dog on one day contains billions of fecal coliform bacteria that, if not picked up, contaminates our soil & our water, where it can make us sick. It is both an Akron ordinance and a Summit County law to pick up and properly dispose of dog poop whether it occur on your property or while you are walking your dog. Bagging it, tying it shut, and placing it in a trash can is sufficient. I have personally found the pet waste bags at DollarTree ($1.25 for 60 bags) to be the most economical option.
Leash your dog: Unless properly secured by a tall enough fence, all dogs must be on a leash when they are outside of your home. Not only does this ensure the safety of your pet, but it also makes the neighborhood safer for everyone else to enjoy. No one wants to go for a walk and be chased by a loose dog. Accidental escapes are inevitable, but purposely letting your dog loose in an unfenced area, even if it is your property, is unlawful and bad neighbor behavior. Please be a good pet parent.
Street parking etiquette: Leave 3 feet between your car & the start of driveway so neighbors can safely enter & exit. If parking on a hill, curb your wheels (turn them towards the nearest, usually passenger side, curb) before you put your vehicle in park. Should the parking brake fail, your vehicle will roll downhill. Curbing, or turning the wheels towards the curb, means that the vehicle will roll downhill and be stopped by the wheels bumping the curb instead of rolling down the street. Additionally, it is bad form to park in front of a neighbors trash & recycle bins just prior to trash pickup day.
Litter, disposal of furniture, appliances, & yard waste: Please bag your trash when you place it in the bin - this helps cut down on flyaway bits on trash day. The city of Akron only has TWO full-time litter pickers. If you have a recycling bin, the city asks that you keep your recyclables loose and unbagged. Bins should be placed at the edge of the street, with the lid opening street-side. (Most neighbors put them on their devil strips.) If you have more than one bin, place them at least three feet apart so the mechanical bucket trucks can easily pick them up.
Furniture and appliances can be placed on the devil strip for pick up on trash day. (You are allowed to totally fill up the devil strip twice per year.) If you have yard waste, it must be of a certain diameter or smaller, cut short, and bundled. For more information about your trash day & what the city will haul away, see the City of Akron trash page.
Miscellaneous resources:
Akron Municipal Code
Summit County Property Search (find parcel numbers, pay your property taxes, etc.)
Summit County Land Bank - Side Lot Program (apply for eligible vacant adjacent lots at a reduced rate)
Great Streets Akron a program to create an economic center in each Akron neighborhood. For Goodyear Heights, the area around the Linda Theatre has been designated as a “great street” and businesses there are eligible for special programs to build or grow their businesses.