Morton Salt’s Elston Avenue terminal (by Cosmo1976 [CC BY-SA 3.0)
You can see her umbrella from the Kennedy Expressway—the Morton Salt Girl’s appearance means commuters only have a few more miles to go to reach the Circle Interchange.
Morton Salt will discontinue packaging and warehousing at the 1357 North Elston Avenue facility next month. Morton announced yesterday that it would continue to use the location in some capacity. It will no longer be used to store ice melting and bulk salts, however.
Morton Salt Girl.
Morton opened the site in the late 1920s, and it’s a familiar site for Chicagoans, a fact not lost on company executives.
“The Morton Salt facility on Elston Avenue has an iconic presence in Chicago,” said Christian Herrmann, Chief Executive Officer of Morton Salt, Inc. “That’s why we will explore all possibilities related to the future of the property and the infrastructure upon it. Our company was founded in Chicago and we are committed to the long, rich history we have here.”
The company said the 23 Morton employees at the Elston Avenue facility would be offered transition or severance benefits. Morton officials said the move was based on an analysis that indicated it would be more efficient to serve customers from other sites.
Other real estate moves are on the horizon for Morton. The company’s headquarters will move from 123 North Wacker Drive to the still-under-construction River Point at 444 West Lake Street in December 2016.
