The Potteries of Medicine Hat - Medicine Hat, Alberta
Posted by: 
wildwoodke
N 50° 00.721 W 110° 41.076
12U E 522598 N 5540014
The Potteries of Medicine Hat Heritage Marker is located at the tourist information centre in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
Waymark Code: WM23FH
Location: Alberta, Canada
Date Posted: 08/29/2007
Views: 102
This historic site describes, in brief, pottery companies that operated in the Medicine Hat and Redcliff area from 1912 to 1989. With an abundance of natural gas, great clay to work with and a main railway there was great opportunity to move their wares.
In 1912, the Medicine Hat Pottery Company was created and the southern Alberta city became the centre of a growing pottery industry. Three years later, the company changed hands and was renamed the Medalta Potteries Limited.
Medalta manufactured items such as bowls, churns, kegs and china and employed up to 200 people. This company, along with other ceramic companies, helped Alberta's, and more specifically Medicine Hat's, economy to thrive.
Pottery manufactured in the area was sold across the country and as far away as New Zealand and Australia. By 1929 Medalta Potteries was manufacturing 75 per cent of all pottery produced in Canada. Although the last pottery closed its doors in 1989, the buildings and artifacts that remain have been designated heritage sites. The Friends of Medalta Society, in the context of the Medicine Hat Clay Industries National Historic District, is overseeing the restoration of a huge complex of buildings spanning two sites which showcase the companies, people, machines, and the products made in Southern Alberta during the early and mid 20th century. Their interpreters show thousands of people how the casting, jiggering and pressing of stoneware pottery were done. Over the past seven years they have hosted about 10,000 visitors each year.