Famed Spice Company May Move to Pa.

Baltimore is known for three things: The Wire, crab cakes, and McCormick spices. Omar wouldn’t be Omar in suburban Pennsylvania — can the spice comapny move here and retain its identity?

We’re about to find out.

Fortune reports the “granddaddy of American spices” may move from its Baltimore home to Pennsylvania in order to better reap the rewards of its growing international sales. And that has the Marylanders quite nervous.

McCormick, whose spices and seasonings have been at the elbow of many adventurous home cooks, has been a Baltimore area landmark for 125 years, and a generator of huge revenues—some $4.2 billion last year. But, in a jolt to the area, the company recently said it wants to move its administrative offices elsewhere, possibly in Pennsylvania.

In announcing its plans in March, McCormick said it wanted to combine its offices to make a more effective workplace, but it also said it wanted to minimize disruption to its 700 workers, many who live in northern Baltimore County and southern Pennsylvania.

McCormick President Alan D. Wilson has indicated, in published interviews, that he is open to moving across the border to Pennsylvania as well returning to downtown Baltimore. The company offered no additional comment on the move.

Hey: We’re all for bringing major corporation headquarters to the state and generating some tax revenue. But to do it at the financial and even spiritual expense of the state next door? Doesn’t seem sporting. McCormick is a Baltimore institution. It would be nice to see it stay one.