Akron is in northeast Ohio and has a population of just under 200,000 people. Lots of sports fans know that it’s the hometown of LeBron James, the All-Star power forward of the Cleveland Cavaliers, but there are a lot of interesting facts about the city that many people don’t know.
Unique Nickname
The University of Akron’s athletic teams are known as the Zips, which refers to a rubber overshoe. This shoe came out of the BFGoodrich Company, a tire manufacturer that’s based out of Akron as well. Nearly a century ago, a freshman student at the university thought of the name, “Zippers,” (officially shortened to “Zips”) and won a campus-wide contest. The school mascot is a kangaroo named Zippy, and she’s one of just eight female mascots in the country.
First City to Use a Police Car
Longtime Akron residents might know that it was the first city in the world to have a police car. But this “car,” built in 1899, was a unique electric wagon that could only go up to 16 miles per hour and required a recharge every time someone drove it for 30 miles. The wagon’s first assignment was to drive to the corner of Exchange and Main streets to pick up a local who was drunk in public. The city paid the Collins Buggy Company $2,400 for the wagon, which equals about $65,000 today. In 1900, residents pushed it into the Ohio Canal during a riot.
Famous Residents
Several other well-known people hail from Akron, including Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach, members of the popular band the Black Keys. Both of them graduated from Firestone High School, and Auerbach served as the captain of the soccer team. Devo, the band best known for its hit song, “Whip It,” also formed in Akron. Chrissie Hynde, a member of The Pretenders, also calls Akron home.
Another famous Akron native is George Wallace, a comedian who also worked at the local BFGoodrich plant and attended the University of Akron. Later in his career, Wallace lived with another up-and-coming comedian, Jerry Seinfeld, and served as the best man at Seinfeld’s wedding.
One-of-a-Kind Educational Experience
Engineering students at the University of Akron can earn a degree not offered at any other educational institution in the U.S. This degree is in Corrosion Engineering, which teaches students to design materials that will help preserve defense, industrial, environmental, and infrastructure assets around the globe. If you want to study Aerospace Systems but would rather not attend the Air Force Academy, you can also earn that degree from the University of Akron.
It Has a Strong Military History
The U.S. Navy also commissioned an airship for construction at the Goodyear Airdock in the early 1930s. This airship took its maiden voyage in 1931, but only two years later, it was destroyed during a thunderstorm that also killed 73 passengers and crew on board. The incident acted as an early indicator that an airship would not become the major form of air travel.
Akron might not be the biggest city in the nation, but it certainly has a fascinating history.
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