Goodyear qwas named for Goodyear Tire.
Here's a link with some good info on Paul Litchfield: http://www.usacitiesonline.com/azcountylitchfieldparkhistory.htm

And a TIME cover, if you care: http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19310810,00.html

Just to add to what is already here, the site of the Wigwam Golf Resort and Spa was originally the administrative facility for the cotton operation. As Goodyear executives began to visit and stay for extended periods of time, often with their families, and often during the Winter (some things never change), they began to want a more permanant facility, and according to history on http://www.wigwamresort.com, the Wigwam opened up for business on Thanksgiving in 1929. If you are ever in town, I highly recomend having dinner at the Arizona Kitchen at the Wigwam - it is a real taste of Arizona.

Ben Bailey
Windermere West Valley http://www.ArizonaPremiereLiving.com
480/220-8022

Goodyear used to be named Little Egypt back then due to the cotton farming. It was later changed to Goodyear.

Jonathan is spot on. A man named Litchfield founded a city called Goodyear. As well as Litchfield Park, of course. If you get a chance to visit the city of Litchfield Park check out the rows of palm trees. They were planted to help visitors find the plantation when nothing else was around.

Here are the details from Goodyear's official site. Another name may be familiar if you know the West Valley and Phoenix area - Paul Litchfield. The same Litchfield as in Litchfield Park, just northeast of Goodyear.

"The Goodyear of today exists because of the cotton of yesteryear. It was part of the 16,000 acres purchased in 1917 for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company by junior executive Paul Litchfield. Cotton used to make rubber tires for airplanes in World War I was in short supply because foreign sources were in war torn countries or disease ridden."