Touring with Terrell: Inside the Salt Shed on Goose Island

ByTerrell Brown and Poinesha Barnes WLS logo
Friday, November 17, 2023
Touring with Terrell: Inside the Salt Shed
The Salt Shed sits on Elston Avenue in Goose Island, an entertainment venue that was once full of salt.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- There's a new attraction on Goose Island, that boasts a musical experience like no other.

The Salt Shed sits on Elston Avenue in Goose Island, an entertainment venue that was once full of salt.

"There was salt in everything... in between the floor boards, in between the ceiling," Craig Golden of the Salt Shed said.

The location was home to a well-known complex for Morton Salt Company, a landmark in the industrial community in Goose Island. .

"Chicago was an industrial hub for the country for so long, in steel and stockyards," Golden said.

The renowned Chicago architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst & White designed the building sometime between 1929 and 1930.

"For us, it was very exciting to take a building that was this central to Chicago's past industry as well as kind of an iconic rooftop that everybody really seemed to know," Golden said.

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The buildings' look reflects a modern industrial style that was gaining popularity during the early twentieth century. And it's re-birth, kept much of that vision intact.

"You can tear them down and start anew or you can repurpose it for the next, the future," Golden said.

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Most of the building's infrastructure is original.

"We left the original walls, again the trusses we tried to... mimic the roof..., we tried to keep it as genuine and as real as we can," Golden said. "We have occasionally people that worked here for many years that were working in the facility here that come in here and go like wow, quite a transformation and yes it is."

And now, you can get one of the best music experiences in the city at the repurposed event space.

"For us to present have the opportunity to present music in a place like this that exudes the type of... history that we love about Chicago we're just very proud of it," Golden said.

From concerts, to parties, employing local venders and artists., the Salt shed's creator say it's important to keep the community involved and keep history intact.

"It's exciting to walk in because you don't know what to expect in a salt shed," Golden said. "You get this, which is quite wonderful."

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Not only does the industrial history live on, a new legacy is born.

"We kinda hope, as a caretaker of historical piece of property...that we could have that same impact in the next hundred years going forward on our cultural and artistic history here in Chicago," Golden said.

The Salt Shed's creators say whenever you stop by, be sure to look around. You'll find installments, by local artists, throughout the venue.