Bata Shoes was born in Zlin, Czechoslovakia in 1894 by three siblings Tomas, Anna and Antonio Bata in a simple cobbler shop. The company soon headed by Tomas Bata brought innovation and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and production to the fore.
1945 Bata was nationalized by post-war “restructuring” and soon after Bata moved its headquarters to Toronto. The company is offered 5000 acres near Trenton, Ontario by the Canadian Government to establish manufacturing facilities. Sewers, electric and telephony are laid. Manufacturing facilities were created and housing was built to house the new force.
Bata’s forward thinking and commitment to design and innovation hired Toronto-based architectural firm of John B. Parkin Associates to design its factories, workers housing and the Bata House. In the end an entire town was created and named, Batawa…
Includes Architecture Photography, Industrial and Domestic Artifacts, Industrial Design and Ephemera. Format: photographs, negatives, transparencies, drawings, documents and prints.
Period: 1945-2000. Includes Oral History.
