48 Business View Magazine - July 2016
Goodyear, Arizona
Geared for growth
Although Goodyear, Arizona thinks of itself as a young
city, its roots actually go back a hundred years. Good-
year was established in 1917, with the purchase of
16,000 acres of land by the Goodyear Tire and Rub-
ber Company to cultivate cotton for vehicle tire treads.
During World War II, the Navy built the Litchfield Na-
val Air Facility and Goodyear became a town in 1946.
In 1968, following the closure of the base, the city of
Phoenix purchased the airport as a general aviation
reliever airport for the Phoenix Sky Harbor Internation-
al Airport. The town became a city in 1985, and the
airport was renamed the Phoenix-Goodyear Airport in
1986.
Throughout the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, new
homes and businesses continued to develop in this
Maricopa County suburb just west of Phoenix, and
today, Goodyear is the 6th fastest growing city in the
nation with a current population of around 77,800. In
2008, Goodyear became an All America City, a desig-
