Related collections:
s0379 HARDY SALT COMPANY, RECORDS, 1914-1987
s0380 HARDY FAMILY, PAPERS, 1911-1982
s0510 HARDY FAMILY, ADDENDA, 1911-1982
s0727 HARDY SALT COMPANY, ADDENDA, 1920-1990
Thomas Walter Hardy Jr. donated the Hardy Salt Company records to the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at the University of Missouri-St. Louis on April 15, 1987. Mr. Hardy donated this addenda in August of 1990.
Thomas Walter Hardy, a salesman for Morton Salt, began his own salt packing and distribution company in 1914. Hardy's business grew rapidly and incorporated as the Hardy Salt Company in 1916. The company was located at 22nd and Dock Street in St. Louis.
While vacationing near Lake Michigan in 1930, Hardy learned of the Robson Leather Company, an abandoned tannery with an adjoining salt well located in Manistee, Michigan. Hardy bought the tannery and built the Manistee Salt Works, a Hardy Salt Company subsidiary and manufacturer of all its salt. Hardy Salt also opened a branch office and warehouse in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. By the mid-1930s, its annual distribution of salt across Maine, the Dakotas and the Southeast reached 100,000 tons.
Hardy Salt became the sole manufacturer of brine during its first ten years of operation. It also developed into a major innovator in the salt industry. During the course of its operations, the company built the first set of quintuple-effect evaporators used in salt production;; introduced flaked salt to the food industry; and pioneered the packaging of table salt in paper bags instead of cotton packets, preventing the salt from hardening and getting dirty.
Thomas Walter Hardy Jr. joined his father's salt plant after graduating from the Harvard Business School in 1939. He became president of Hardy Salt after his father's retirement in 1955. Thomas Walter Hardy St. remained active in the Hardy Salt Company until his death in 1960.
Concerned with political and social issues, Thomas Hardy Jr. began flying the American and United Nations flags at the Manistee plant to symbolize "that we are part of the whole world and not just a part of Manistee." In his efforts to promote peace, Hardy chaired the St. Louis Chapter of Business Executives Move For Vietnam Peace from 1968-1970 (see collection 441). Hardy served as an executive board member of the Center for Defense Information and the Committee for the East-West Accord, both based in Washington, D.C.
Hardy sold the Hardy Salt Company to the Diamond Crystal Company of St. Clair, Michigan in April 1985.
SCOPE AND CONTENT
The Hardy Salt Company Addenda consists of financial reports (mostly annual reports) dating from the years 1961 to 1985.
SERIES DESCRIPTION
Series 1, Financial Records: This series, which contains the whole addenda, consists of annual financial reports dating from 1961 to 1985. These financial reports are only ones which are not contained in the original papers, Collection 379.
FOLDER LIST
BOX 1
1. Financial Statements, 1961
2. Financial Statements, 1963
3. Financial Statements, 1964
4. Financial Statements, 1970
5. Financial Statements, 1976
6. Financial Statements, 1977
7. Financial Statements, 1982
8. Financial Statements, 1983
9. Financial Statements, 1984
10. Financial Statements, 1985
STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI RESEARCH CENTER-ST. LOUIS
222 THOMAS JEFFERSON LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS
ONE UNIVERSITY BOULEVARD
ST. LOUIS, MO 63121
(314) 516-5143
E-MAIL: whmc@umsl.edu