Batawa
Batawais a small community in southeasternOntario,Canada, in the city ofQuinte West.It was set up by theBata Shoe companyas a planned community around a shoe factory, which opened in 1939 and closed in 2000.
History[edit]
Conditions in Europe prior to World War II ledThomas J. Batato 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.[1]One prominent group of Bata's European refugees to resettle in Canada were the employees of the Bata Shoe Company fromZlín,Moravia,in 1939. Tomáš J. Baťa and 82 workers re-assembled the business in Batawa. The company would go on to produce military equipment for the Allied War effort.[2]
The town was initially the headquarters of Bata Shoe operations in Canada; the headquarters moved toTorontoin 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.[3]Bata Shoes would close its retail shoe stores in Canada one year later in 2001.
Dalton Company converted the old Batawa shoe plant into a high end residential condo complex in 2018[4]
Geography[edit]
Batawa is situated on the west bank of the Trent River, and nearby is Lock 4 of theTrent-Severn Waterway,a major water transportation system.[5]
Services[edit]
- Quinte West Fire Department Station 5
- Sacred Heart Catholic School
- Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church
- Batawa Community Centre
Batawa is represented by three councillors on Quinte West City Council for the Ward of Sidney.
Further reading[edit]
There are several books about the Bata's including:Uprooted and Transplanted,[6]the story of a family that immigrated to Canada and worked at the Batawa facility.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Gray, John (May 23, 2000). "Way of life disappears with factory in Batawa".The Globe and Mail.p. A8.
- ^in Engl. or French
- ^Strauss, Marina (January 17, 2000). "Bata to revamp worldwide operations".The Globe and Mail.p. B1.
- ^"Our work in Batawa begins with repurposing the iconic Bata Shoe factory".The Dalton Company. Archived fromthe originalon August 6, 2016.
- ^Angus, James T.A Respectable Ditch: A History of the Trent-Severn Waterway 1833-1920.McGill-Queens University Press, Montreal and Kingston, 1988.
- ^Skoutajan, Hanns F (2000).Uprooted and transplanted: a Sudeten odyssey from tragedy to freedom, 1938-1958.Owen Sound, ON:Ginger Press.ISBN978-0-921773-54-2.OCLC45265108.
