Medicine Hat Clay Industries National Historic District

Category: Business

In 1912, the Medicine Hat Pottery Company was created and the city became the epicentre of a flourishing pottery industry. Three years later, the company was renamed the Medalta Potteries Limited.

Medicine Hat's natural advantages of cheap natural gas and abundant supply of excellent quality clay, helped solidify the clay products industry as one of Medicine Hat's earliest and most successful.

Medalta developed into a large and diverse company that manufactured items such as bowls, churns, kegs and china. This company, along with other ceramic companies, helped Alberta's, and more specifically Medicine Hat's, economy to thrive. At the height of its success, Medalta employed over 200 people.

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, and two industrial buildings have been partially restored to house an interpretive centre that attracts thousands of visitors each year.