Mary Alice (Hale) Hadley

Mary Alice Hale May 15, 1911 Terre Haute, Vigo, Indiana d. 26 Dec 1965

Mary Alice (Hale) Hadley was born May 15, 1911 in Terre Haute, Indiana to Frank R. and Hattie Alice Hale. In 1930 she married George Hadley.

After graduation in 1933 from Indiana's Depauw College, Mary attended Indiana University at Terre Haute. The couple moved to New York City where Hadley took art classes at Columbia University while her husband worked on his degree.

The couple eventually made their home in Louisville where Mary continued her artistic pursuits of sculpting and painting. In 1939, to furnish the couple's newly acquired boat, she designed her own set of dinnerware. Once her friends saw the pieces and requested ones like them.

Mary began to design pottery as a business and Hadley Pottery was born. Within a decade, the firm had on staff 12 freehand decorators producing 200 unique pieces daily. In 1952 Hadley's "Hot Brown Fleck" pottery won a good design award from the Museum of Modern Art. The pottery was exhibited in New York and at the Good Design Institute's show at Chicago's Merchandise Mart. Though Mary Alice Hadley died December 26, 1965, Hadley Pottery continues to operate today.

Mary Alice Hadley established one of Louisville's most iconic and well-known potteries. The story begins in the early 1900's. Mary Alice Hadley was born into a family of clay tile makers where her knowledge of working with clay first developed

By the late 1930's Mary Alice Hadley began melding her artistic talent with her knowledge of clay ware. In 1939, Mrs. Hadley made dishes for her houseboat on the Ohio River. The creative result was a set of a custom dishes that caused such a stir among her friends and acquaintances that the idea for a business was born. Supplying those early requests provided wide circulation for her hand-crafted pottery and soon orders began to arrive from across the country With the help of her husband, George, the Hadley Pottery Company was formed early in 1940

She worked at the Pottery until her death in 1965. George Hadley continued to run the business until it was sold in 1979 to Louisville natives, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth W. Moore.

Mrs. Mary Hale Hadley, Terre Haute Tribune, Mon. 27 DEC 1965, Pg.2.
Word has been received of the death of Mrs Mary Hale Hadley, a former resident of Terre Haute, Sunday, in Louisville, Ky. She is survived by the husband, George, and one sister, Mrs Lillian Goss of Terre Haute. Burial will be in Louisville.

m. Nov 15 1930 Vigo county Indiana George E Hadley Birth: Oct 15 1907 McClain county, Ky. son of G E Hadley and Lee Tichenar. Resided Louisville, Ky.; potter

Indiana, Marriages, 1780-1992
Mary Alice Hale & George E. Hadley
Marriage: Nov 15 1930 Vigo, Indiana
Wife: Mary Alice Hale
Birth: Oct 5 1911 T. Haute
Marital status: Single
Race: White Father: Frank Hale
Mother: Hattie Alice Wise
Husband: George E. Hadley
Birth: Oct 15 1907 Mcclain Co., Ky.
Marital status: Single
Race: White
Father: G. E. Hadley
Mother: Lee Tichenar
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M00488-7
System Origin: Indiana-EASy
GS Film number: 1905998
Reference ID: v 78 p 180

Name: George Edwin Hadley Jr
Birth: 15 Oct 1907
Marriage: 15 Nov 1930
Parents: George Edwin Hadley, America Lee Tichenor
Spouse: Mary Alice Hale

George has also been given as on ancestry as:
Name: George W Hadley
Birth: 1906
Marriage: 1930
Parents: Fred D Hadley, Gertrude Hadley
Spouse: Mary Alice Hale