page_title: Batawa
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Batawa / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Batawa (the Bata village in Canada) was originally established in late 1939. Čeština: Batawa, kanadská továrna s osadou koncernu Baťa, byla založena v roce 1939.
context_page_description: Batawa is a small community in southeastern Ontario, Canada, in the city of Quinte West. The community was set up by the Bata Shoe Company as a planned community around a shoe factory. The factory opened in 1939 and closed in 2000.
context_section_description: Conditions in Europe prior to World War II led Thomas J. Bata to search for a location in Canada to transfer operations. Batawa's location was chosen for its proximity to a lake, a railway, a highway, an airport and cheap land. A factory town was built and opened in 1939. The Bata company owned the town, providing accommodations at a reasonable rate to its workers. The company controlled virtually all aspects of the village. There was a Bata grocery store, Bata recreation hall, Bata clubs, Bata teams and a Bata shoe store. Many of the residents were immigrants from Bata's homeland, Czechoslovakia, who immigrated at the time of the factory's construction. The town was initially the headquarters of Bata Shoe operations in Canada; the headquarters moved to Toronto in 1964.
  During the latter half of the 20th century, tariff barriers on shoe imports into Canada were reduced, allowing more and more low-cost shoes into Canada. Eventually, Bata determined the factory could not continue as a viable business operation and closed the factory in March 2000. As part of a strategy to cut costs, Bata consolidated production in lower-wage countries overseas. Bata Shoes would close its retail shoe stores in Canada one year later in 2001.
  Dalton Company is converting the old Batawa shoe plant into a residential condo complex.
caption: Batawa
exif: {"Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Album Starter Edition 3.0", "Image DateTime": "2010:01:07 19:45:31"}