Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The former festival hall of Demangevelle's spinning, built in 1924, is part of an industrial complex founded in 1911 by the Vosges industrialist Pierre Mangin. This rectangular building, with a stand and a theatre scene with painted decorations, was intended for the leisure of the workers and executives of the spinning. It symbolizes Mangin's social commitment, which was complemented by a working-class city, a crèche, a housekeeping school and a canteen.

The mill, initially specialized in cotton, experienced a major expansion between 1923 and 1926 with the construction of a second workshop. During the First World War, she participated in the war effort by producing shells and aircraft carburettors. After a fire in 1944, the workshop was rebuilt between 1951 and 1955. The festive hall, sold to the commune, was listed at the Historic Monuments in 2003 with the 20th century Heritage label.

The factory ceased its textile activity in 2008, marking the end of an industrial era that began in 1911. At its peak, it employed 250 people (1961) and processed cotton imported from Central Asia. The festive hall, with its stage mechanisms and painted curtain, remains a unique testimony of social life linked to the cotton industry in Burgundy-Franche-Comté.

The industrial site, served by the East Canal and a railway branch, illustrates the functional architecture of the period: sheds for the workshops, reinforced concrete for the water castle, and limestone rubble for the workers' housing. The 13 houses of the city, organized from A to N, offered independent apartments, reflecting an advanced community organization for the time.

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