Le Blanc-Mesnil

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Le Blanc-Mesnil
The view towards the town hall
The view towards the town hall
Coat of arms of Le Blanc-Mesnil
Coat of arms
Paris and inner ring départements
Paris and inner ring départements
Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Country France
Region Île-de-France
Department Seine-Saint-Denis
Arrondissement Le Raincy
Canton Le Blanc-Mesnil
Government
 • Mayor Thierry Meignen
Area1 8.05 km2 (3.11 sq mi)
Population (2010)2 51,438
 • Density 6,400/km2 (17,000/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code 93007 / 93150
Elevation 37–47 m (121–154 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Le Blanc-Mesnil (French pronunciation: ​[lə blɑ̃.me.nil]) is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 12.6 km (7.8 mi) from the center of Paris, between Charles de Gaulle Airport and le Bourget Airport.

Name

The name Le Blanc-Mesnil was recorded for the first time in the 11th century as Mansionile Blaun. This name is a compound of Medieval Latin Mansionile, meaning "little houses", from Latin mansio (accusative mansionem), and of Germanic (Old Frankish) blanch, blaun, meaning "glossy, shining, white", which gave French blanc ("white") and English blank.

The name is interpreted by some as a reference to the houses of Le Blanc-Mesnil which were whitened due to the flour dust coming from the windmills located there in ancient times. One researcher, however, thinks that blanc had also the meaning of "free" in Old French, and so the name would mean "free mesnil, free village", perhaps because the villagers had been freed from serfdom. None of these interpretations is certain.

Geography

Nearest municipalities

History

French Revolution

On 2 December 1792, a third of the territory of Aulnay was detached and became the commune of Le Blanc-Mesnil.

Heraldry

Arms of Le Blanc-Mesnil
The arms of Le Blanc-Mesnil are blazoned :
Azure, a cross engrailed Or, a canton chequy argent and azure, in 2nd and 3rd a hand appaumy, in 4th a drageoir (sweetsdish) Or



Economy

  • Parc d'activité du Coudray
  • Zone industrielle de la Molette in Blanc-Mesnil, Bourget and Drancy. It includes Centre Albert Einstein, created in 1987.
  • Parc Modus
  • Garonor
  • Pont-Yblon
  • Centre d'affaires international Paris Nord II
  • Carré des Aviateurs
  • Espace Descartes, for tourism business. Three hotels three stars, a Novotel hotel.[1]

French and international companies

Several French companies have their world headquarters in Blanc-Mesnil, such as Forclum and Sicli.

Immigration

Place of birth of residents of Le Blanc-Mesnil in 1999
Born in Metropolitan France Born outside Metropolitan France
72.5% 27.5%
Born in
Overseas France
Born in foreign countries with French citizenship at birth¹ EU-15 immigrants² Non-EU-15 immigrants
3.9% 2.7% 5.5% 15.4%
¹This 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), and to a lesser extent foreign-born children of French expatriates. Note that 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.
²An immigrant is a person born in a foreign country not having French citizenship at birth. Note that 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

Political life

The following political parties have a permanent base in Blanc-Mesnil:

Politics

Mayors

Since Libération

  • Didier Mignot, PC, since 2008.
  • Daniel Feurtet, PC, 1989-2008.
  • Robert Fregossy, PC, 1965-1989.
  • Eugène le Moign, PC, 1945-1965.

Between 1860 and 1945

  • Maurice Lambot, 1943–1945
  • Alfred Dubuissez, 1941–1943
  • Bernard Legrand, 1939–1941
  • Henri Duquenne, PC, 1935–1939
  • Marcel Gerdil, SFIO, 1929–1935
  • André Neufinck, 1908–1929
  • Pierre-Hippolyte Jouslain, 1905–1908
  • Marcel-Edouard Renault, 1892–1905
  • Michel Renault, 1860-1892[2]

Transport

Le Blanc-Mesnil is served by Le Blanc-Mesnil station on Paris RER line B.

Le Blanc-Mesnil is also served by Drancy station on Paris RER line B. This station (formerly called Blanc-Mesnil-Drancy), although administratively located on the territory of the neighboring commune of Drancy, is the closest from the town center of Le Blanc-Mesnil and is thus used by people in Le Blanc-Mesnil.

The bus company provides 17 lines of buses to travel within the city.

Ideally placed at the junction between the A1 and the A3.

2.5 km (1.6 mi) from Le Bourget airport, 7 km (4.3 mi) from Charles de Gaulle Airport and 4.5 km (2.8 mi) from Parc des Expositions de Villepinte, you will be ideally place to get to Parc Astérix and Disneyland as well as the centre of Paris and the Stade de France.

Religion

Catholic churches: Église Notre-Dame, Église Saint-Charles, Église Sainte-Thérèse. Evangelic churches : Charisma église chrétienne

Environment

Parks and gardens

  • Jacques-Duclos Park
  • Vineyards produces Clos blanc-mesnilois, a Chardonnay
  • Vegetal wall of Forum culturel by Patrick Blanc
  • Place de l'eau
  • Jardin de Montillet
  • Square Stalingrad

Sports

Blanc-Mesnil Sports (BMS), founded in 2005, is the city's sport club.

International relations

Le Blanc-Mesnil is twinned with

For fifteen years, twinning between le Blanc-Mesnil and Debre Berhan has been based on the development: water sanitation, education, construction of roads. In a rare spirit, that of a collaboration of equal to equal.

Personalities

See also

References

  1. Site de Hotels World
  2. Archives municipales

Bibliography

  • Le Blanc-Mesnil et son passé, Ernest Soitel, 1969.
  • Histoire anecdotique de Blanc-Mesnil, Albert Galicier, 1973.
  • Le Blanc-Mesnil des temps modernes : 1935-1985, 1986.
  • Le Blanc-Mesnil, Pierre Bourgeade, Gilles Smadja, Jean-Pierre Vallorani, Françoise Vasseur, 1992.
  • Le Blanc-Mesnil : citoyens de demain, Patrick Laigre et Jocelyne Héquet, 1993.
  • Le Blanc-Mesnil : 2000 regards, Photographies de Luc Choquer, François Crignon, Erwan Guillard, 1999.
  • Le Blanc-Mesnil, Christian Massart, 2005.
  • Twinning between Le Blanc-Mesnil and Debré-Berhan (in English and French).

External links