Lima Powder Coating

In the early 1930's my grandfather, Russell K. Glover, purchased a small milk can coating company that was located in downtown Baltimore, Maryland. The main service was the hot-dip tin coating of steel, cast iron, and copper parts that belonged to other companies or individuals. Within a few years his two sons, Howell Sr. & Russell, Jr., took over all of the daily operations of that little company, named National Can Retinning Co. With the population growth and better roadways to the west, the Company began to make giant strides in dairy customer growth. With the extra business the Navy provided during the war years in the early 40's and the boom of business during the late 40's, it become obvious that the Company would have to relocate to the mid-west to continue growth and survive among its growing competitors. The National Can Retinning Co. sold its property in Baltimore, and moved to Lima, Ohio in 1949. Early in 1950, a special division was formed to perform "virgin" tin coatings for new milk cans and food preparation equipment parts. The name of that little division was "The Metal Coating Co It had 4 employees and a very small production area. With National's new state of the art coating facility now in the center of the dairy industry, plant production was quickly at full capacity. Solution...buy out other competitors and start other production facilities in Winnoa, Minnesota and Dyersburg, Tennessee. A few years later, when a fire destroyed the Dyersburg plant, the Tennessee Can Co. and Springfield Can Co. were bought for their production facilities. It had production plants in Fayetteville, Tenn. and Springfield, Missouri. The Springfield plant didn't prove to be profitable and was closed within a few years. Fires destroyed all of the various plants over the years, with all being rebuilt except the Dyersburg, Tenn. plant. The early 1950's were times of extreme growth and prosperity, like the rest of the country. But by 1957, the dairyware industry had begun to follow the new technology of glass lined and stainless steel bulk tank systems now in almost universal use today. As fast as the dairy business had propelled the Glover family business, it was almost as fast into recession. By the early 1960's, business volume had dropped so much that the two brothers, wanting to go different directions with the business, decided to split the business. The Tennessee plant was sold. The Winnoa plant, and the National Can Retinning Co. name, was retained by Russell K (Bill) Glover, Jr. and his son, Russell K. (Russ) Glover, III. The Lima property, with The Metal Coating Co, was then "spun off" to be owned separately by Howell D. (Hal) Glover and his son, Howell D. Glover, Jr. By now, the only real volume of tin coating business available was done by The Metal Coating Co in Lima. With the last remaining milk can manufacturer in the U.S. and a large Amish population close by, the dairyware and cheese mold coating business was stable. Also nearby were manufacturers of food preparation equipment that used steel and cast iron components, which needed "virgin" 100% pure hot-dip tin coatings. It was at this time of the early 60's that Richard (Dick) Hussey moved from the Tennessee plant to begin managing the small company of The Metal Coating Co, now owned as a Division of MoHawk Co, the new Ohio corporation formed to take over the Lima operations. Over the next 30 years, Metal Coating Company, did what it always did best, provide the highest quality 99.9% pure grade "A" virgin tin coatings for bakery, dairy, food, meat & industrial customers.