This is probably something most people are unaware of. Goodyear Mutes. My grandfather Walter Lenz along with his brother and two sisters were deaf. The family were well enough off to send some of them to a deaf school in Philadelphia. This picture dates from around 1915 or so. The Goodyear Rubber Company out in Ohio hired alot of deaf workers. This is one of their trains at the Johnstown Train Station. In fact some of my family moved out to Ohio to work for the company, that by all accounts treated their deaf workers even better than those that could hear.
4 comments:
Love it! My great grandfather, Harry Ware, was the 1st deaf man hired by a rubber company in Akron (he started at Diamond & then was hired by Goodyear). He trained many deaf men after him. So glad to see the picture.
Hello: I am currently researching Akron's Deaf community. I'd like to know more about your great grandfather, Harry Ware. He didn't work at the Goodyear, only at the Firestone. My great grandfather, Albert Dudley Simpson, worked at the Goodyear.
-Dennis L. Simpson
Believe it or not, they also a great basketball team. I’m serious. In the late 1910’s, they quite formidable in Akron industrial leagues.
Believe it or not, but they also had a great basketball team in the 1910’s. The Mutes were a formidable opponent in the Akron Industrial Leagues.
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