| Company type | Manufacturer |
|---|---|
| Industry | Leather Goods |
| Founded | 1873 |
| Founder | Bonaparte Allen Sr. |
| Defunct | 1945 |
| Headquarters | Buford, Georgia, USA |
| Products | horse saddles, bridles, horse collars, postal bags, cowboy boots, shoes, baseballs, baseball gloves |
Number of employees | 2,200 |
The Bona Allen Company is a tannery and leather goods factory that opened in 1873 in Buford, Georgia. It became the nation's largest producer of hand-tooled saddles, bridles, horse collars, postal bags, cowboy boots, and shoes and had a contract to supply the sporting equipment giant, Spalding, with raw material for the manufacture of baseballs and baseball mitts.[1][2] Starting in the early 20th century Bona Allen saddles were offered in the Sears Mail Order catalog under a variety of names. The Bona Allen Company was owned by Bonaparte Allen Sr. Also known as the Bona Allen Shoe and Horse Collar Factory, the factory closed in 1981 after a fire, and the main tannery building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 3, 2005.[3][4] It is located at 554 West Main Street. After another fire on February 10, 2015, firefighters allowed the building to burn itself down.
- ^ Estep, Tyler. "Flashback photos: Buford was once home to the country's most prolific tannery". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- ^ "The Bona Allen Shoemakers". Archived from the original on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2010-06-04.
- ^ "Buford fire continues to erase the once landmark tannery for the stars". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- ^ "National Register of Historic Places Listings January 21, 2005". Archived from the original on 2014-02-22.