Mark Price

4 days ago | beaconjournal.com | Mark Price

There are fewer blimp pilots than astronauts. Goodyear has 10 full-time pilots. Airships have a cruising altitude of 1,000 to 1,500 feet and go up to 73 mph. When Jerry Hissem was a little boy in Cuyahoga Falls, he used to stop and watch as the Goodyear blimp flew overhead. Now he’s the one who makes people look up. Hissem, 55, chief pilot for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., is the captain of Wingfoot One, the airship based at Wingfoot Lake in Suffield Township. This is a man who clearly loves his job.

6 days ago | beaconjournal.com | Mark Price

Did you know that the Goodyear blimp didn’t use helium for its first flight? Rubber executive envisioned airships as a sport for wealthy people. The silver airship took Akron residents by surprise. As the shiny vessel soared overhead that sunny morning, it wasn’t immediately apparent to observers that the city’s skyline had changed forever. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. took its first commercial blimp, Pilgrim, for an unannounced test flight June 3, 1925.

6 days ago | beaconjournal.com | Mark Price

As Akron celebrates its bicentennial in 2025, we’re looking back at two centuries of headlines. Visit BeaconJournal.com every Sunday morning throughout the bicentennial year for a look back at the week in Akron history. Here’s what happened June 1-6 in local history:1825: Judge Aaron Norton, a pioneer manufacturer, died at age 49 and was buried in Middlebury Cemetery. Born in 1776 in Connecticut, he co-founded Middlebury in 1807 with Joseph Hart.

1 week ago | beaconjournal.com | Mark Price

Better look up! Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. has confirmed that three airships will converge over Akron in early June. Wingfoot One, based at Wingfoot Lake in Suffield Township, will welcome Wingfoot Two from Pompano Beach, Florida, and Wingfoot Three from Carson, California, as the Akron company celebrates the 100th anniversary of its first blimp flight. When the Pilgrim took a test flight June 3, 1925, Akron was preparing to celebrate its centennial.

1 week ago | beaconjournal.com | Mark Price

According to local folklore, the soldier was wounded in battle in 1861 in Virginia. Is there really a veteran buried in that exact spot? Early records were lost long ago. Memorial Day events in Clinton include breakfast, parade and visit to cemetery. Birds chirp from the boughs of old, gnarled trees. A light breeze rustles the green leaves. Sunshine casts shadows over marble markers. In the southwest corner of Summit County lies a monument to a man whose name is forgotten.