AKRON INNOVATES HISTORY IN THE MAKING

GERTRUDE SEIBERLING BEGAN ATTENDING BUCHTEL COLLEGE when her husband’s business venture, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, became profitable. She studied architecture, gardening and interior design. She wanted to be able to assist in building the family’s new home — a 65-room Tudor style mansion they would call Stan Hywet — when construction began in 1912. Visit Stan Hywet Hall Gardens to learn more about the Seiberling family.

FOR YEARS, TOYS WERE ALL HANDMADE, making them available only to the children of wealthy families. In 1884, Samuel C. Dyke automated his Akron factory to mass-produce marbles, the first toy affordable for everyone. He then founded The American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Co. in the mid-1890s, which produced a million marbles a day and turned out dozens of other toys, including America’s oldest figurine of a Santa, pictured here. Visit the Akron Children’s Museum with the young ones to experience playful, interactive learning.