Morton Salt
| File:Morton Salt logo.svg The Morton Salt logo featuring the Morton Salt Girl | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Salt manufacturing |
| Founded | 1 January 1848 in Chicago, United States |
| Founder | Alonzo Richmond |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois , United States |
Area served | North America, The Bahamas |
Key people | Mark Demetree (CEO) |
| Products | Salt for food production, water treatment, industrial applications, agriculture, road de-icing |
| Parent | Stone Canyon Industries Holdings, Inc. |
Morton Salt stands as a prominent American salt manufacturer serving diverse sectors including food production, water treatment, industrial applications, agriculture, and road de-icing. Based in Chicago, it has operated as a subsidiary of Stone Canyon Industries Holdings, Inc. since 2021.
History
Established in 1848 in Chicago under the name Richmond & Company by Alonzo Richmond to distribute salt throughout the Midwest, the firm adopted the name Morton Salt in 1889 following ownership by Joy Morton. He expanded the business by acquiring lake vessels to enhance distribution capabilities. By 1910, Morton Salt had formally incorporated as both a producer and distributor.
In 1919, Morton Salt acquired Bevis Rock Salt Company, which was founded by Alfred Bevis in 1896. Members of the Bevis family held key leadership roles until Bevis Longstreth later founded Thiokol Corporation. In 1982, Morton merged with Thiokol to create Morton-Thiokol but divested from this partnership in 1989 after the Challenger incident, maintaining its consumer chemical product lines.
Morton operates one of North America’s largest solar saline production sites, purchased in 1954 at Matthew Town, Inagua, The Bahamas. Around 1958, chemist Richard A. Patton invented a patented magnesium oxide coating technique that enhanced salt quality—a crucial advancement that contributed to Morton's market leadership.
In 1999, Rohm and Haas of Philadelphia acquired Morton Salt and integrated it with Canadian Salt Company (which had been acquired in 1954). Later in 2009, German fertilizer and salt producer K+S bought Morton Salt for $1.7 billion during Dow Chemical’s acquisition of Rohm and Haas.
A significant operational event took place in June 2016 when a wall at a Chicago storage facility collapsed due to excessive salt stockpiling combined with deferred roof maintenance; fortunately, no injuries were reported.
On April 30, 2021, K+S divested its Americas salt division—including Morton Salt—to Stone Canyon Industries Holdings and CEO Mark Demetree for $3.2 billion. This transaction broadened Stone Canyon’s presence in the salt sector and positioned Morton for ongoing growth under new leadership.
Current overview
The corporate headquarters of The Morton Salt Company is situated in the River Point building at 444 West Lake Street, Chicago, where it became the inaugural tenant in December 2016. The company’s previous headquarters were located at 123 North Wacker Drive. Prior to its acquisition in 1999, Morton’s main office was at 100 North Riverside Plaza (later Boeing’s headquarters), with earlier locations including 110 North Wacker Drive and 208 West Washington Street. The company maintains a research and development facility in Elgin, Illinois and operates eight vacuum evaporation plants, six underground mines, five solar evaporation sites, and five packaging centers across the United States, Canada, and The Bahamas.
Logo and advertising
Morton Salt’s signature emblem is the "Morton Salt Girl," depicting a young girl holding an umbrella while sprinkling salt from a cylindrical container. This logo ranks among the top ten advertising symbols in the United States and originated from a 1914 campaign emphasizing the product’s ability to remain free-flowing even during wet weather. To achieve this quality, Morton began incorporating magnesium carbonate as an anti-caking agent into its table salt starting in 1911.
Since its introduction in 1914, the Morton Salt Girl has been redesigned seven times—in 1921, 1933, 1941, 1956, 1968—and received a centennial update. The company promotes related collectibles and circulates vintage advertisements to highlight its brand legacy. In 2005, the mascot appeared in MasterCard’s "Icons" commercial aired during Super Bowl XXXIX. The centennial celebration in 2014 involved extensive marketing initiatives including events across 100 cities, scholarships for fine arts and culinary students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Kendall College, social media contests, and a dedicated day at Wrigley Field. That same year, the Morton Salt Girl was honored with induction into the Advertising Week Walk of Fame on Madison Avenue—the first female figure to receive this distinction.
Morton Arboretum
Morton Salt serves as a sponsor for the Morton Arboretum, a botanical garden located in Lisle, Illinois. Established in 1922 by the company's founder, Joy Morton, the arboretum is dedicated to the cultivation and exhibition of trees, shrubs, and vines. It welcomes approximately 300,000 visitors each year and features a collection exceeding 3,600 different plant species.
In popular culture
The Morton Salt brand has been featured across multiple media platforms, strengthening its visibility. In the 1989 Cheers episode titled "Feeble Attraction," a character mentions dismissing "the Morton Salt Girl." Additionally, Ron Swanson promoted the product in the 2011 Parks and Recreation episode "The Fight."
During the 2013 Major League Soccer season opener between the Portland Timbers and the New York Red Bulls, the Timbers Army displayed a large tifo and wore T-shirts showcasing the Morton Salt Girl.
As part of its "Walk Her Walk" initiative, Morton Salt supported the production of OK Go's music video "The One Moment", which was released in November 2016, aligning the brand with innovative marketing efforts.