February i. 1907.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



143 



The Financier of a Great Rubber Company. 



COLO x !•: L G 1-: o R G I-: tod p k k k i n s. 



A STRONG personality which has served to give contimiily 

 to the business management of The B. F. Goodrich Co. 

 (Akron, Ohio) since the beginning, in 1870, is Colonel 

 George T. Perkins, who has survived all the others who were 

 identified with its earlier years. Colonel Perkins, whose portrait 

 appears on this page, is not a manufacturer, in the commonly 

 accepted term, but a banker — a financier of extremely well bal- 

 anced judgment — who has gradually become a shareholder and 

 director in a number of important manufacturing enterprises, but 

 chiefly in the Goodrich 

 rubber company. So inti- 

 mate has been his connec- 

 tion with the growth and 

 prosperity of this great 

 concern that no history of 

 the rubber industry would 

 be complete that failed to 

 include some record of his 

 life. 



George Tod Perkins was 

 the son of Colonel Simon 

 and Grace Ingersoll (Tod) 

 Perkins, and was born on 

 May 5, 1836, on "Perkins 

 Hill," in Akron. The late 

 Colonel Simon Perkins 

 has been called the 

 'Father of Akron," and 

 his home. Perkins Manor, 

 has long been one of the 

 landmarks of the city. 

 The mansion of the son, 

 the subject of this sketch, 

 now stands on the same 

 elevation. George Perkins 

 was educated in the public 

 schools at Akron and at 

 Marietta College, in Ohio. 

 The military title which 

 he wears was won during 

 the Civil War. He started 

 for the fighting line at tlu- 

 first call for troops and 

 was mustered out \v i t h 

 Sherman's army at Wash- 

 ington at the close of the 

 war, a little more than 

 four years later. In April, 

 1861, he enlisted as private 

 in the Nineteenth Regi- 

 ment, Ohio Volunteer In- 

 fantry, for three months, 

 and as second lieutenant 



of Company B participated in the West Virginia campaign. I-atcr 

 he reenlisted in the One Hundred and Fifth regiment. O. V. I., 

 becoming its major. He commanded part of the regiment in the 

 sanguinary battle of Perrysville, Kentucky, on October 8, 1862, two 

 of his captains being killed, and four other officers wounded ; 47 

 men were killed and 212 wounded. He participated in the battles 

 of Hoover's Gap, Chickamauga, Chattanooga (where he was 

 wounded). Mission Ridge, Kenesaw Mountain, and the siege of 

 Atlanta. He marched with General Sherman from "Atlanta to 



COLONEL CEORCE T. PERK'NS. 



!he Sea." He was promoted to lieutenant colonel July 16, 1863, 

 to colonel February 18, 1864, and was mustered out with the regi- 

 ment June 3, 1865. 



Colonel Perkins returned home to engage in business, becoming 

 secretary to Taplin, Rice & Co., which position he held until 1870. 

 In that year he became cashier of the Bank of Akron, and in 1876 

 iis president. The bank becoming merged, in March, 1888, with 

 ihe Second National Bank of .Akron, Colonel Perkins became 

 lirisident oi \hv !nr^;cr institution, holding the office until March 



I, 1904. At that time the 

 Citizens' National Bank 

 was consolidated with the 

 Second N^a t i o n a 1, and 

 Colonel Perkins, not de- 

 siring to assume increased 

 burdens, retired from of- 

 fice, though retaining a 

 seat on the board. He 

 was presented with a 

 handsome testimonial by 

 the officers and directors 

 of the bank. 



Colonel Perkins was 

 connected with the Akron 

 Rubber Works, later in- 

 corporated as The B. F. 

 (loodrich Co., from the be- 

 ginning, in 1870. He was 

 treasurer and had charge 

 of the finances until Dr. 

 Goodrich died, in 1888, at 

 w h i c h time he became 

 liresident. The growth of 

 the company has been 

 steady and substantial, not 

 having been excelled in 

 this respect, perhaps, by 

 any other rubber manufac- 

 turing concern in the 

 world. Tlie original fac- 

 tory was housed in a two 

 story building. 50 by lOO 

 ioet. The plant to-day 

 i-mbraces many large and 

 substantial buildings, cov- 

 ering acres of ground. As 

 late as 1892 the company 

 was capitalized at not more 

 than $750,000, but it was 

 doing a large business for 

 this amount of capital. 

 Hie capitalization was in- 

 creased with the growth 

 of the company's operations, until, in July, 1905. the figure was 

 $10,000,000. The products of the factory embrace nearly every- 

 thing made of rubber, and they find a market on every continent. 

 .■\t the annual meeting of The B. F. Goodrich Co. on January 9 

 Colonel Perkins resigned the position of president on account of 

 ill health, being succeeded by Mr. B. G. Work, for some years 

 vice president and general manager. 



In 1888 the Goodrich Hard Rubber Co. was incorporated, with 

 $300,000 capital, to make hard rubber goods. The shareholders 



