District 6 – Director Lawrence Ireland
At 94, Marvin Logsdon has lived a long life of service to his community.
Born in 1928, just before the start of the Great Depression, Marvin spent his first few years on a farm owned by his mother’s family outside of Bowling Green. The family moved when Marvin was around 4 or 5 years old to his paternal grandfather’s home between Radcliff and Vine Grove. Marvin had two siblings.
His family then bought a farm just outside of Rineyville in Four Corners that they expanded to around 1000 acres. He was around 11 years old when electricity was first brought to the rural area where he lived. He remembers his family being “tickled to death” that they would finally receive electricity in Four Corners.
After eventually moving to Radcliff, Marvin’s father, T. Brown Logsdon, became the first elected mayor of the city.
While his dad established himself as a leader and developer of the Radcliff community, Marvin worked on his family’s farm and studied science at WKU. He became a teacher at Vine Grove High School and was instrumental in establishing a lab there for students. He married his wife, Betty, and had two sons. Betty was also a teacher.
During this time, growth in and around Ft. Knox strained the infrastructure of Radcliff and other nearby cities. The addition of new subdivisions and businesses made the need for a water district clear and Marvin was tasked with the job. He left teaching to start a water district that would serve the residents of northern Hardin County. Only one other water district in Kentucky existed at the time.
The water district was formed in 1953 and started in 1955 with approximately 500 customers. Marvin explains that lack of funding meant that they had limited options for establishing needed facilities and equipment. He remembers vividly that they “started from scratch.” Because of this, the water district purchased the Saunder’s Springs Water Treatment plant formerly used by Ft Knox in April 1954.
The lack of funding also meant that both Mr. and Mrs. Logsdon did a lot of the work themselves. He recalls Mrs. Logsdon typing bills on her home typewriter. He said he was lucky that one of the few employees they had to help start services had a good tractor as they could not afford to purchase a tractor for the business in the early days.
In addition to the need for a water district, the rapidly growing community in and around Radcliff needed a sewer plant. Marvin was instrumental in establishing this as well. He says that having a sewer plant was a key factor of the growth of commerce and industry in the area.
Marvin spent many years leading the water district as General Manager. His work was instrumental in not only establishing the water and sewer service to residents in and around Radcliff, but ultimately in helping the community to flourish into what it is today.
When asked what he would want to say to future generations, Marvin says to do the best you can with what you have. Considering what he helped to build “from scratch,” that is advice he has certainly lived.
Listen to the podcast version HERE or watch our full interview with Mr. Logsdon in our videocast Wire-to-Wire with Nolin RECC below