Maisons-Alfort (French pronunciation: [mɛzɔ̃ alfɔʁ] ) is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 8.4 km (5.2 mi) from the center of Paris.
Maisons-Alfort | |
|---|---|
 The church of Sainte-Agnès, in Maisons-Alfort | |
 Coat of arms | |
 Paris and inner ring departments | |
Location of Maisons-Alfort  | |
  Maisons-Alfort  Maisons-Alfort | |
| Coordinates: 48°48′21″N 2°26′16″E / 48.8058°N 2.4378°E | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Île-de-France |
| Department | Val-de-Marne |
| Arrondissement | Nogent-sur-Marne |
| Canton | Maisons-Alfort |
| Intercommunality | Grand Paris |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2021–2026) | Marie France Parrain[1] |
Area 1 | 5.38 km2 (2.08 sq mi) |
| Population (2021)[2] | 58,068 |
| • Density | 11,000/km2 (28,000/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 94046 /94700 |
| Elevation | 24–47 m (79–154 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Maisons-Alfort is famous as the location of the National Veterinary School of Alfort. The Fort de Charenton, constructed between 1841 and 1845, has since 1959 housed the Commandement des Écoles de la Gendarmerie Nationale.
Name
editOriginally, Maisons-Alfort was called simply Maisons. The name Maisons comes from Medieval Latin Mansiones, meaning "the houses".
At the creation of the commune during the French Revolution, the name of the hamlet of Alfort was joined with the name of Maisons. The name Alfort comes from the manor built there by Peter of Aigueblanche, Bishop of Hereford (England), in the middle of the 13th century. The name of this Manor of Hereford was corrupted into Harefort, then Hallefort, and eventually Alfort. The National Veterinary School of Alfort was settled several centuries later in the manor and its estate.
History
editOn 1 April 1885, 40% of the territory of Maisons-Alfort was detached and became the commune of Alfortville.
In 1905, Buffalo Bill stayed two months in Maisons-Alfort while his famous Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show performed in Paris.
September 1944 explosion
editAt 8.39am on 8 September 1944 a V-2 rocket landed and killed six people at Charentonneau,[3] launched from Petites-Tailles, near Houffalize, in south-east Belgium by Lehr und Versuchsbatterie 444.[4] This was the first destruction caused by a V-2 rocket.[5][6]
Later that day, a V-2 rocket from Wassenaar in the Netherlands, launched by 485 Artillerie Abteilung at 6.37pm, would hit Staveley Road in west London.
Demographics
editThe population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Maisons-Alfort proper, in its geography at the given years. The commune of Maisons-Alfort ceded the commune of Alfortville in 1885.[7]
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| Source: EHESS[7] and INSEE (1968-2017)[8] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Immigration
edit| Born in metropolitan France | Born outside metropolitan France | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 82.8% | 17.2% | |||
| Born in overseas France |
Born in foreign countries with French citizenship at birth1 | EU-15 immigrants2 | Non-EU-15 immigrants | |
| 1.9% | 3.4% | 3.1% | 8.8% | |
| 1 This group is made up largely of former French settlers, such as pieds-noirs in Northwest Africa, followed by former colonial citizens who had French citizenship at birth (such as was often the case for the native elite in French colonies), as well as to a lesser extent foreign-born children of French expatriates. A foreign country is understood as a country not part of France in 1999, so a person born for example in 1950 in Algeria, when Algeria was an integral part of France, is nonetheless listed as a person born in a foreign country in French statistics. 2 An immigrant is a person born in a foreign country not having French citizenship at birth. An immigrant may have acquired French citizenship since moving to France, but is still considered an immigrant in French statistics. On the other hand, persons born in France with foreign citizenship (the children of immigrants) are not listed as immigrants. | ||||
Administration
editMaisons-Alfort is part of the arrondissement of Nogent-sur-Marne. It is the only commune of the canton of Maisons-Alfort.[9]
Points of interest
editEducation
editThe commune has:[10]
- 13 public preschools (écoles maternelles)
- 12 public elementary schools
- Three private preschools and elementary schools: Ecole Privée Notre-Dame, Ecole et collège Privée Sainte-Thérèse
- Four public junior high schools: Collège Condorcet, Collège Edouard Herriot, Collège Jules Ferry, Collège Nicolas de Staël
- One private elementary and junior high school, Ecole et collège Privée Sainte-Thérèse
- Two public senior high schools/sixth-form colleges: Lycée Eugène Delacroix and Lycée Professionnel Paul Bert
Personalities
edit- Tariq Abdul-Wahad, basketball player
- Thomas N'Gijol, comedian
- Ladjie Soukouna, footballer
- Nicole Tourneur, women writer
International relations
editMaisons-Alfort is twinned with Moers in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Transport
editMaisons-Alfort is served by three stations on Paris Métro Line 8: École Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort, Maisons-Alfort–Stade, and Maisons-Alfort–Les Juilliottes.
It is also served by two stations on Paris RER D: Maisons-Alfort–Alfortville and Le Vert de Maisons.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 9 August 2021.
- ^ "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
- ^ September 1944 V2
- ^ Battery 444
- ^ Target London: Under attack from the V-weapons during WWII
- ^ Maisons-Alfort V2 attack in September 1944
- ^ a b Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Maisons-Alfort, EHESS (in French).
- ^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
- ^ Commune de Maisons-Alfort (94046), INSEE
- ^ "Les écoles à Maisons-Alfort Archived 2017-05-02 at the Wayback Machine." Maisons-Alfort. Retrieved on September 6, 2016.
External links
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