80th Anniversary: Hadley Pottery

Hadley Pottery 
1570 Story Avenue, Louisville, KY 40206 
502-584-2717 
hadleypottery.com 

Hadley Pottery

Born into a family of clay tile makers in the early 1900s, Mary Alice Hadley grew up working with the natural clay of the region. As her passion for art and design developed, she began merging her knowledge of clay with her passion for art, winning numerous awards from New York to Los Angeles throughout the 1930s. Driven by a personal desire for dishes for her houseboat, Mary Alice created a set of custom dishes in 1939, and the response by friends and acquaintances was overwhelming, leading to the founding of Hadley Pottery Company with her husband George in 1940. Master potter and mold maker, Perry Day who worked for Louisville Pottery was hired to run the manufacturing side of the business. A great partnership, Mary Alice designed the art, and Perry designed the ware. In no time, orders were arriving from across the country.

In 1944, George purchased the building on Story Avenue as a birthday present for Mary Alice, and to this day it remains the production, factory salesroom and offices of Hadley Pottery. Many pieces of original art created by Mary Alice are still on display at the historic Butchertown structure, including several wall murals.

Mary Alice designed until her death in 1965. The warm and whimsical designs that are the heart of Hadley pottery live on to this day. George continued to run the business until it was sold in 1979. The Day family has remained involved since the beginning and remarkably, four generations have managed the production side of the company: Perry retired after Mary Alice’s death, son Tom, grandson Jerry and now great grandson Josh Day. Jerry and Josh bought the company in 2018 and have remained steadfast in preserving the quality of the Hadley brand. Loyalty runs strong at Hadley Pottery and several workers are second and third generation employees. Hadley Pottery still makes and decorates the pottery by hand, in the original building it opened in 80 years ago. Their goal is to keep it open for future generations of collectors and family members. Stop by any time and buy your first or 100th piece of pottery, and help keep this historic and unique business going.

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