Under the name Bošany is a village with about 4 thousand inhabitants, which lies in the southern part of the Trenčín region on the river Nitra between the towns of Partizánske and Topoľčany. At the turn of the 1920s and 1930s, the local tannery faced major problems and threatened to shut down and lay off the last 150 employees. The threat of unemployment was averted in 1930 by the Prague Ministry of Finance, when it agreed that Tomáš Baťa would buy the Bošany tannery, thus opening up the prospect of its continued existence. Baťa did not disappoint expectations, production was maintained in the Bošany factory and more employees were soon hired, because in 1934 she introduced another branch here - the production of footwear.

Three years later, a modern building for rubber production was built and the growing company employed 670 workers before the Second World War. People found housing in two new parts - white and red, between 1932 and 1938 more than 90 flats were added here and Bošany grew by several hundred new inhabitants.

As in other Baťa towns, a new department store was used for shopping, people also had a cinema here, social life took place in a Baťa hotel, where a band of a factory fire brigade played for dancing, and a playground was arranged for sports. In a short time, the village has changed a lot, its expanded industrial zone received the Baťa seal, with the development of the factory, there was increasing activity everywhere and also prosperity.

Further development Bošan encountered limited possibilities of acquiring land for the expansion of the factory - the company Baťa responded to this by buying land in nearby Šimonovany and began the story of the Baťa business in today's Partizánské.

Today, there are still companies in the tanning and footwear industry in Bošany, and houses from "Baťa's" construction can be seen. There is also an interesting classicist mansion (fortified castle). Bošany can be a starting point for visiting Topoľčany or Partizánské.

The text comes from the promotional material "Bata is not just shoes", which was created in cooperation with the cross-border partner of the Tourist Board of East Moravia. You can read more about the project HERE .

Photo: Katarína Janíčková, www.batovany.sk