For more than a century, Master Lock Co.’s North Side factory has churned out a variety of products, but the core of the company’s business is plain to see for all passersby. A large replica of its signature laminated padlock sits atop the north end of the facility.
The multi-building site at 32nd and Center streets has long been an anchor and provider of decent-paying jobs in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. But after decades of cuts by Deerfield, Illinois-based Fortune Brands, the plant is set to wind down operations beginning in October until it’s permanently shuttered next March. Four hundred jobs will be lost.