Harvey Firestone Wanted More Roads for His Customers

The founder of the company whose slogan for many years was “Where the rubber meets the road” had much to do with paving the way for the current truck transportation network.

	University of Akron Archive
	A truck in 1918 helped to spread the “Ship By Truck” campaign, which Harvey S. Firestone started, by touting the slogan on its canvas cover.

As Bridgestone-Firestone Inc. looks back on a century of helping drivers traverse highways and byways around the globe, it recalled the persuasiveness of Harvey S. Firestone, who lived from 1868 to 1938, in helping build the transportation system in the United States.

Before “rubber meets the road” became a household phase, the businessman who established his namesake Firestone Rubber & Tire Co. in 1900 was using other catch words to bolster the fledgling trucking industry. His “Ship By Truck” campaign encouraged shippers, manufacturers, farmers and consumers to use more trucks to haul their goods. Later came the “Good Roads” movement, which urged the federal government’s participation in the formation and planning of highways.

Of course, Firestone, who was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, had a vested interest in seeing that truckers succeeded and roads were improved and expanded. Demand would increase business for tires if more vehicles traveled longer distances.

For the full story, see the Aug. 7 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.