Timeline

Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Vincent sawmill, located at 1a rue Maurice-Burrus in Sainte-Croix-aux-Mines (Haut-Rhin), is an industrial building emblematic of the first quarter of the 20th century. Built between 1920 and 1925 by the Vincent family, it is distinguished by its functional architecture: brick and wood walls, large bay windows, and an overflowing long-paned roof. Its originality lies in its energy system, based from the beginning on a steam machine of 1893 (150 hp), recovered from a textile factory and powered by a marine boiler of 1907, burning sawdust and deligning. This innovative technical choice for the time marked a break with traditional hydraulic sawmills.

The sawmill played a major economic role in the region, producing loggers and beams for major projects such as the Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines tunnel or the reconstruction of the Rhine bridges in 1945. Its tools, exceptionally preserved since the shutdown of production in 1960 (replaced by electricity), include rare machines: slug saw, unliner, chain wagon, and sawmill. This equipment, which has been protected under the Historic Monuments since 1996, illustrates a complete production chain, from trunks drawn by chain in the flotation pond (now filled) to finished products.

The history of the sawmill is part of a family line dating back to 1860, with Jean-Baptiste Vincent, then Augustin Vincent, before this third settlement. The steam engine, manufactured by the Alsatian Mechanical Construction Company and the boiler by Kuhnle, Kopp & Kausch AG, symbolizes Alsatian industrialisation. After 1990, Ariel Vincent, the last owner, transformed the site into a place of memory, preserving the machinery and the internal tracks. The whole, including the brick fireplace and the pond site, is protected for its technical authenticity and testimony on the evolution of industrial energies.

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