Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The steel factory of Uckange, founded in 1890 by the German company Gebrüder Stumm, is part of the industrial expansion of the Moselle annexed after 1871. Placed in the Fensch valley, it first exploits the lorraine minette, a local iron-poor ore, to produce cast iron gullies. Between 1890 and 1913, six blast furnaces were built, employing nearly 600 people at their peak in 1913. The factory is constantly modernizing, passing under French control in 1919 after the First World War, before being integrated into the Forges and Acierie du Nord et de Lorraine (FANL).

In the mid-war, the factory went through crises (temporary closures in the 1920s and 1930s), but specialized in moulding. Starting in the 1960s, it abandoned minette to imported minerals (Brazil, Mauritania), becoming the only French factory of special fonts after the concentration of the sector. Technical innovations mark this period: fuel oil injection and ground coal, automation, and even plasma torches testing in the 1980s. Despite these advances, the decline in the market led to its definitive closure in 1991, after decades of restructuring.

The U4 blast furnace, rebuilt in 1976 and automated in 1988, is preserved thanks to the mobilisation of the MECILOR association (created in 1991 by former employees). Ranked a historic monument in 2001, it is integrated into the Jardin des Traces, a landscaped area combining industrial memory and cultural conversion. The site, now owned by the urban community of Val de Fensch, hosts projects such as the MetaFensch research platform (2016) and film shoots. Its future is inspired by cross-border models, such as the Völklingen blast furnaces (Germany) or the Esch-Belval blast furnace (Luxembourg), classified at UNESCO.

The Uckange factory illustrates the changes in the Lorraine steel industry: from the German era (1871-1918) to the deindustrialisation of the 1980s-1990s. Its technical heritage (cowpers, casting hall, sewage systems) and social (worker's memoir worn by MECILOR) make it a symbol of the industrial heritage of the Great East. Current challenges include securing the site for indoor visits and integrating it into a tourist and scientific dynamic, between preservation and innovation.

Future

After a conservation campaign, supported by the MECILOR association, the U4 blast furnace is classified, integrated into a landscaped area, the Jardin des Traces.

External links