The rubber industry was born in bankruptcy and built through bankruptcies. As this history details, many of the great rubber barons--Charles Goodyear, Harvey Firestone, B.F. Goodrich, F.A. Seiberling--found themselves or their companies in bankruptcy courts. Fortunately, the industry has always proven as elastic as its product.

From the early search for an American location to process the rubber of the tropics to the collapse of the industry, this is the story of rubber in America.