Retooled County Plant Opens Hiring for 2,100 Energy Jobs
Radcliff, KY · October 16, 2026
A light drizzle is hovering over the ridge this morning, but your Friday calendar has plenty lined up from afternoon gaming to glowing indoor harvest halls. Keep a light layer in the car and head out early.
The Lead
Hardin County’s manufacturing corridor is entering a pivotal second chapter as Ford Energy begins hiring for its revamped Glendale facility. Ten months after market shifts shuttered the electric vehicle battery plant and displaced 1,500 workers, Ford is directing $2 billion into converting the 1,500-acre site to manufacture utility-scale battery energy storage systems for power grids and data centers.
Company leadership confirmed to local business leaders this week that roughly 200 management positions are already filled, with production operator recruitment rolling out ahead of expected operations in late 2027. Backed by federal energy loans, the retooled plant targets at least 20 gigawatt-hours of annual storage output and will eventually employ 2,100 people across the region. Former plant employees receive first priority to interview as specialized assembly equipment arrives on the floor early next year.
Local Pulse
Hardin School Board Weighs Campus Improvement Plan Schools The district facilities plan sets construction priorities and major renovation timelines across county campuses serving area families.
Council Approves Financing For New City Hall City Hall Elizabethtown leaders accepted up to seventeen million dollars in municipal bonds to construct a centralized civic administration complex.
Work Begins On Regional Youth Bike Trail Parks Construction crews broke ground in Elizabethtown on an off-road youth pump track and skill-building dirt course.
Today's Outlook
- High 74°F · Low 49°F — Drizzle
- Tuck an umbrella into your bag to handle damp afternoon spells in mild air.
What's On Around Town
Today
Super Mario Hour Hardin County Public Library (100 Jim Owen Dr), Elizabethtown, 3:30–4:30 PM · Free Hands-on gaming challenges and themed group activities for kids.
Mali-BOO Jack's Glow-O-Ween Malibu Jack's (1704 Towne Dr), Elizabethtown, 6:00–10:00 PM · $24.99 Blacklight indoor trick-or-treating, arcade games, costume contests, and unlimited rides.
Spooky Movie Night: The Ring The Historic State Theater (209 W Dixie Ave), Elizabethtown, 7:00–10:00 PM · Paid Catch the vintage 2002 psychological chiller on the restored big screen.
Tomorrow
- Glendale Crossing Festival Downtown Glendale, Glendale, 10:00 AM–5:00 PM · Free
- Classic Cinema: Hocus Pocus The Historic State Theater (209 W Dixie Ave), Elizabethtown, 7:00–10:00 PM · Paid
Sunday
- Hardin County EMS Trunk or Treat Hardin County Government Building (150 N Provident Way), Elizabethtown, 1:00 PM · Free
- Pumpkins in the Park Freeman Lake Park, Elizabethtown, All day · Free
Spotlight & Story
- The Radcliff Name When Horace McCullum carved up farmland to auction building lots in 1919, he named the crossroads after his friend Major William Radcliffe, head of Camp Knox’s Quartermaster Corps. Postal clerks and sign painters quietly dropped the final “e” over the following decades.
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