Fulton, Bain E.

Bain E. "Shorty" Fulton was the founder of Akron Municipal Airport (Akron Fulton International Airport), Derby Downs, site of the All-American Soap Box Derby, and the Rubber Bowl in Akron, Ohio. Personal contacts in his career included pioneers in aviation and military history.

• 1892: Bain Escarius Fulton is born January 5, 1892, in Kenton, Ohio, to Albert H. and Margaret R. Escarius Fulton
• 1912: Fulton moves to Texas where he works as an auto mechanic, chauffer and cowpuncher, as well as participating in semi-professional auto racing
• 1913: Fulton returns to Ohio and studies agriculture at Ohio State University
• 1916: Fulton marries Leah A. Rusch
• 1916: Fulton moves to Akron, Ohio and begins working at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
• 1925: Akron Municipal Airport is founded
• 1928: Ground is broken for Akron Municipal Airport on land previously acquired by Fulton
• 1935: Fulton helps to bring the All-American Soap Box Derby to Akron, Ohio
• 1936: Derby Downs opens near the Akron Municipal Airport as the site of the All-American Soap Box Derby, constructed as a WPA project during the Great Depression
• 1940: Akron Municipal Stadium, also known as the Rubber Bowl, is dedicated on land adjacent to the Airport
• 1942: Fulton joins the Army Air Force at the age of 50. He is first stationed in North Africa and Arabia before successfully negotiating reassignment in Europe
• 1945: Fulton is imprisoned in a German camp and later freed by Russian forces
• 1962: Fulton reluctantly retires from Akron Municipal Airport at the mandatory retirement age of 70 after 34 years of service Fulton's son, Bain J. "Bud" Fulton, assumes management of the Airport
• 1973: Leah A. Fulton, wife of Fulton, dies
• 1974: Fulton, age 83, marries Jean Florence Gallagher, a widow age 57
• 1978: Akron Municipal Airport name changed to Akron Fulton Airport in honor of Fulton and his son, Bain J. "Bud" Fulton
• 1979: Fulton dies February 28, 1979, at the age of 87

From the guide to the Bain E. "Shorty" Fulton Collection, 1918-1994, 1920-1965, (Akron-Summit County Public Library Special Collections Division)