Former Goodyear Blimp Base, Spring, Texas

Goodyear operated a blimp base in Spring, Texas, north of Houston, from 1969 to 1992, which took over maintenance and assembly activities from Wingfoot Lake in Ohio, and served as the southeastern counterpart to the blimp base in Carson, California. Southeastern blimp operations moved to Florida, and after the Spring site closed, it was redeveloped into a shopping area. The site of the former hangar is the only part of the base that remains visible, in an overgrown corner of the former 40-acre site. The rest of the site now houses Home Depot at one end and Lowes, its primary competitor, at the other. Between is a car tire and repair center operated by Firestone, Goodyear Tire and Rubber’s arch-rival (also from Akron).