The Sociedad Española de Electricidad [Spanish Electricity Company] was created in 1881, although the first chimney was not built until 1896, by which time the company was already called the Compañía Barcelonesa de Electricidad (Barcelona Electricity Company). A second chimney was built in 1908 and a third in 1912. In 1911, Frederick Stark Pearson founded the Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company Ltd in Toronto, after which it acquired the Compañía Barcelonesa de Electricidad. This is why the factory was known as “La Canadenca” (“the Canadian”). The company was the leading electricity producer in Europe by 1914; and it was hit by a strike a few years later, in 1919, known as the “La Canadenca strike”, which lasted for forty-two days. That strike led to the establishment of an eight-hour work day, as well as other workers’ rights. The Spanish Government approved this measure on 3 April 1919. In 1979 the three chimneys, which would remain in operation until 1989, were listed under Barcelona’s Catalogue of Historical and Artistic Heritage.