La Courneuve

Sister cities

• Vitulazio
• Prešov
• Ocotal
• Yako

History

The name La Courneuve derives from the Latin curtis nova meaning the 'new court/estate'. Inhabited since pre-Roman times, the area is thought to have been a small village up through the Middle Ages. With its proximity to Paris, it soon became a fashionable country destination, with a number of gentry residing there. It had two notable châteaux - Sainte-Foi and Poitronville. Towards the end of Napoleon's reign, the entire area experienced large population growth. This along with improved methods of farming eventually transformed the area into the major legume producer for the Paris regional. In 1863, the first major industrial enterprise was introduced and the area soon became a strange mix of factories and farmlands. Industrial estates were juxtaposed with bean plantations and that would continue until after World War II. The Hôtel de Ville was completed in 1921. During the 1960s, as Paris could no longer meet the demands of a further exploding population, La Courneuve, like many other suburbs of Paris, was designated as one of the "zones à urbaniser en priorité" (areas to be urbanized quickly) and was built up at a very rapid pace, with the construction of large council estates and tower blocks and other HLM developments. Between 1962 and 1968 the population nearly doubled.