Litchfield Park is a small community on the western side of the Phoenix Metroplex. In 1916, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company bought about 14,000 acres west of Phoenix for use as a cotton plantation. Their intent was to grow Egyptian long-staple cotton for use in tire cords. The project was developed under the watchful eyes of Paul Litchfield, a junior executive who was transferred here from company headquarters in Akron, Ohio. Most of the area was quickly developed into irrigated cotton fields but the company town was held separate and finally given Litchfield's name in 1926. Goodyear also built and ran a test site here for the company's car, truck and tractor tires from 1931 to 1944. Goodyear began developing master plans for the residential development of Litchfield Park and several other local communities in the 1960's. Goodyear's plans were partially implemented and several local communities evolved into self-sufficient villages but when population growth in the area began to skyrocket, most of those plans were simply dropped and the remainder of Goodyear's land holdings were sold to developers.