For Bryan Russell, chief facilities officer for Western Kentucky University, the 15 years he worked for the Detrex Corporation in Bowling Green are full of positive memories.

“It was a great place to work,” Russell said. “I learned so many things, but I also had really good mentors.”

Detrex came to Warren County in the mid-1950s and was a major employer in the region for decades. Based out of Detroit, the company had its hands in many different industries, ranging from chemical applications to industrial equipment manufacturing.

Russell has many stories from his time with the company, many of which relate to the traveling he was able to do through the job.

“I got to solve problems, I got to figure out processes and I got to meet so many people,” Russell said.

Detrex at that time was building de-greasing machines for Raytheon that were used in the military’s Patriot missiles. Russell said since grease and other lubricant is used to make everything “from lipstick cases to heart valves,” all of that fluid has to come off.

Around Christmas in the early 1990s during Operation Desert Storm, Russell and a field service representative for Detrex were on a business trip installing equipment.

“He had had shoulder surgery, and they needed this equipment installed,” Russell said. “I was a sales representative at the time and I said ‘I’ll turn the wrenches, I can do whatever … but you got to tell me what to do.’ ”

The duo got to work, installing the machines and actually cleaning the encasement shells for Patriot missiles.

“It was cool,” Russell said.

When Detrex announced an expansion into Bowling Green, the Daily News reported that “Bowling Green’s industrial future loomed considerably brighter” upon the investment, which totaled $1.5 million back then. Adjusted for inflation, this amount is equivalent to over $17.5 million in today’s money.

The factory, Detrex’s fifth at the time of its announcement, sat on a plot of land surrounded by farms between U.S. 31-W and Russellville Road. Thirty-four acres were purchased by the Detroit-based company for $24,680.

Detrex joined the Bowling Green-Warren County Chamber of Commerce on Feb. 14, 1955, and opened for business the weekend of June 25, 1955. Sixteen pages were dedicated to the opening in the June 22, 1955, Daily News, with advertisements from various  businesses congratulating the company and welcoming it to Bowling Green.

At the time of its opening, around 100 people were already working inside, a number that was predicted to increase to around 150 by the fall of 1955.

Other Detrex factories were located in Detroit, Tacoma, Washington, and Ashtapula, Ohio. The Jan. 2, 1955 edition of the Daily News named the Detrex investment and an investment from Sears on State Street as “the most far-reaching story of 1954.”

“The Detrex story got No. 1 billing because it answers in part the city’s ever growing concern over employment offering(s) for its young high school and college graduates,” the Daily News reported then.

Out of all the travelling Russell did through his job at Detrex, including trips to Mexico, Canada, Italy, France and Brazil, he said South Korea was his favorite.

“I worked over in South Korea for two weeks, and it was fascinating,” Russell said.

He was there to help install a large piece of machinery the company had been building in Daegu, a city about 180 miles southeast of the capital Seoul. Russell said one standout memory from this trip was seeing, of all things, Wild Turkey bourbon for sale.

“Back in the 80s, when there was no other bourbon, Wild Turkey was sold all over the world,” he said. “And I’ve always stuck in my mind about wild turkey being available all over the world.”

Russell’s 15 years with Detrex were spent under a number of different roles, from that of application engineer to sales engineer, topping out with a role as business manager.

Speaking on the people he worked with during that time, Russell said “they were great.”

“They all were machinists, welders, pipe fitters, electricians,” he said. “I would tell you that if you worked there, you had a trade, a skill of some kind. Or, they’d teach it to you,” he said.

With its long history of manufacturing, Bowling Green has seen its share of labor strikes over the years, and Detrex was no exception.

A September 1963 union vote at Detrex had failed 89-76 with 15 workers abstaining from voting. The National Labor Relations Board represented them anyway, according to the Daily News, after it was suspected the company interfered with the vote.

A later vote on Oct. 8, 1964, was much more successful, with employees voting 73-55 in favor of unionizing.

Eight months after that vote, on June 8, 1965, a strike was called after workers at the factory sought a 25 cent pay raise. Employees were represented by negotiators with the Sheet Metal Workers International Association labor union.

According to Daily News reporting from the first day of the strike, starting pay for workers at Detrex stood at $1.59 per hour, with maximum pay topping out at $2.38 an hour.

Warren Circuit Court issued an injunction blocking mass picketing from the union at the site. The injunction limited the number of pickets to five and prohibited those on strike from trespassing on company property, according to the Daily News. Strikers were also barred from interfering with non-strikers coming into or out of Detrex.

The strike wore on throughout the month. On the morning of June 24, 19-year-old Roy Michael Pace of Bowling Green was driving to work at the plant, where he started working just days prior. As he pulled up, a group of striking employees estimated to be 20 to 25 strong were picketing on the sidewalk across from the entrance to the facility.

Pace drove past the picket line and started pulling into the parking lot. Two officers with the Bowling Green Police Department who were on scene told the Daily News then that the group rushed across the street and surrounded Pace’s car, flipping it on its side.

Pace was uninjured, with the Daily News describing the incident in that afternoon’s paper as “automobile-overturning violence.”

However, many positive memories of Detrex remain even today, and public outreach was a focus of the factory.

Western Kentucky University was the recipient of some of that outreach in 1993 when the company planned to construct six intramural flag football fields, four softball fields, a mixed-use rugby and soccer field and a two-story building that would house concessions, restrooms and other official needs.

The College Heights Herald reported then that a $5 fee paid by students at the time would fund the creation of the fields, which were to be located on land owned by Detrex at the corner of Campbell Lane and Industrial Drive.

Construction was slow. The Herald reported then that hang-ups on securing funding from the state for the project, combined with a road widening on Campbell Lane and a need to rework the two-floor building to be compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act, delayed the opening from an expected 1995 date to 1998, five years after the project was proposed.

Sept. 9, 1998, was opening day for the intramural fields, which are still in use.

Detrex’s community outreach was not limited to WKU. In 1957, dirt was turned on what would become the Detrex Clubhouse, a gathering space located on Barren River Road that was used by multiple organizations, including the Girl Scouts.

The Daily News covered the groundbreaking. The 100-foot by 42-foot building was expected to feature a large ballroom on the inside with a fireplace and two swimming pools planned to be installed at a later date.

The Daily News reported then that the $25,000 project — nearly $300,000 adjusted for inflation — would be located “on a slight rise, (a)midst large trees, overlooking the river.”

The clubhouse would also have a new technology for the time — modern air conditioning.

The factory remained open until Dec. 31, 1993, when the parent company sold off portions of its Industrial Chemical Specialities Division to Novamax Technologies. At that time, the Daily News reported, around 100 people were employed in the manufacturing plant.

Johnny Webb, who served as mayor of Bowling Green from 1992 to 1995, said the closure of Detrex was a “bad time” for the city.

“You hate to see industries that appear to be doing well to all of a sudden stop and then we lose those jobs,” he said. “That’s why we have to constantly keep recruiting companies … we do a good job of it in Bowling Green, fortunately.”

The early 1990s saw an economic recession nationwide. Webb said during this time the city was “hemorrhaging” money and jobs were moving out.

“Maybe it was a stroke of luck … but we were able to turn that around in about two years, and started bringing new companies into Bowling Green,” he said.

Following its closure, the 130,000 square-foot property was put up for auction in March 1994. The Daily News reported that fall that welding wire manufacturer Eagle Wire was moving its plant from Clay Street to the site.

The Detrex company maintained ownership of the property until May 5, 1999, when it was sold to Hardcastle Properties, LLC for $440,000. Hardcastle retains ownership of the property to this day, according to the Warren County Property Valuation Administrator.

Now, the building is divided among a few entities. Consolidated Paper Group maintains a presence in the side of the building facing the railroad tracks, while the indoor golf course Tech Golf BG operates on the other side.