Foundation of the company André Koechlin & Cie 1826 (≈ 1826)
Start of mechanical and railway production.
1837
Inauguration of the railway zero kilometre
Inauguration of the railway zero kilometre 1837 (≈ 1837)
First Mulhouse-Thann line from the site.
1839
Opening of the first Mulhusian station
Opening of the first Mulhusian station 1839 (≈ 1839)
Proximity to Koechlin industrial site.
2007
Inauguration of the Cathedral campus
Inauguration of the Cathedral campus 2007 (≈ 2007)
Rehabilitation in university center by Sarkozy.
2019
Opening of KMØ
Opening of KMØ 2019 (≈ 2019)
Place of innovation in former SACM workshops.
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui Aujourd'hui (≈ 2025)
Position de référence.
Key figures
André Koechlin - Industrial and founder
Created the company that created the neighborhood.
Nicolas Sarkozy - President of the Republic
Inaugurated the campus in 2007.
Origin and history
La Fonderie is a former industrial district of Mulhouse, located to the west of the central station, marked by the establishment in 1826 of a mechanical construction site by André Koechlin. This site, ancestor of the SACM and d'Alsthom, produced the first Alsatian locomotives and favoured the establishment of the first Mulhousian station in 1839. The district, a working-class suburb, maintained its popular character while bordering the Rhone Canal on the Rhine and the Mulhouse-Thann railway line.
The iconic building, nicknamed the Cathedral, was fully rehabilitated in 2007 at a cost of 38 million euros. It hosts from the campus of the University of Haute-Alsace (Faculty of Economics and University Library), as well as the Kunsthalle, a contemporary art centre. The covered campus concept was inaugurated there, with spaces organized in inner streets (Main Street, Right Street, Left Street) and access partially controlled by badge.
The district also houses innovation hubs such as KMØ (installed in 2019 in the former SACM workshops), in tribute to the zero kilometer of the first Mulhousian railway line (1837). There is also the High School of the Arts of the Rhine (HEAR), founded in 1821 as an industrial drawing school before becoming a public art institution. The Fonderie now combines industrial heritage, education (71 companies and 25 trainings in 2026) and social diversity, with 3,338 inhabitants in a priority neighbourhood with a poverty rate of 46%.
The municipal archives and the Library of the Mulhouse Industrial Society, formerly the Place de la Bourse, joined the Cathedral in 2010 for reasons of conservation standards. The site remains served by Mulhousian transport (tramways 1/2/3, bus C5), symbolizing the transition from an industrial past to an educational and technological hub.
Among the other infrastructures, the Clinique Saint-Sauveur and the Kléber primary school complete this rapidly changing neighbourhood, where workers' memory and contemporary dynamism coexist.
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Future
Totally refurbished for a budget of 38 million euros, the large industrial building nicknamed the Cathedral has been hosting since September 2007 the new campus of La Fonderie, extension of the University of Haute-Alsace.
The Fonderie also houses an art centre on the second floor, the Kunsthalle, as well as the municipal archives that occupy much of the basement of the building.
