Major league baseball had only 16 teams, and semi-pro baseball teams grew in popularity. John Q. Allen, a son of Bona Allen, arranged for The Bona Allen Shoe Company to sponsor one of the finest semi-pro teams in US history, known as The Bona Allen Shoemakers. In 1933, the Shoemakers won 56 of its 61 games. The Bona Allen Shoemakers were a semi-pro industrial league baseball team sponsored by the Bona Allen Shoe Company. They were active during the late 1920s through the early 1940s when World War II began. Their most successful years were the late '30s and early '40s. They won the 1938 national semi-pro championship held in Wichita, Kansas, as well as the Denver Post Baseball Tournament championship in 1940. A statue of Roy Rogers, his horse Trigger, and saddle-maker Jack Johnson now stands in downtown Buford’s park as a tribute to the tannery. This statue, across the street from the Buford, Georgia, based tannery recreates Roy Rogers and a Bona Allen employee putting a newly purchased saddle on Rogers' horse Trigger. The story behind the statue began when Roy Rogers and Trigger rode east on a private train for Trigger to be fitted for one of Bona Allen’s renowned saddles. The statue features Trigger rearing, with Rogers in pointed boots and western gear standing to the side and the saddle craftsman, Jack Johnson, standing on the other. The Bona Allen Mansion  The Bona Allen Mansion, originally on 1,700 acres, has been listed on the National Register of Historical Places. The home was designed by Atlanta architect Haralson Bleckley. The main 9,000 square foot house has 17 rooms, 12-foot ceilings, original carved wood paneling, moldings, stained glass windows and seven fireplaces. The two-story entry showcases an original Italian wall mural of the Castello Villa Franca in South Rome. The John Q. Allen Home  The John Q. Allen Home was owned by John Quincy Allen (1880-1967), one of five children of Bona Allen Sr. (1846-1925). It is one of seven homes owned by the Allen family in the town of Buford, Georgia. Located at 345 Main Street between the Bona Allen Mansion and the Bona Allen, Jr. home, the John Q. Allen home was built between 1911 and 1912 and is in the Georgian Revival style. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.