A little bit of history
Decazeville is a fairly recent town, built some 180 years ago, one of the first to be based on industry.
It was founded in the 19th century by Duke Decazes, in order to extract coal from the largest open-cast mine in France and develop an iron and steel industry. With the help of François Cabrol, Duke Decazes, who was Louis XVth’s ambassador to England, set up a coal and steel industry in Decazeville, following an English process that consisted in making cast iron from coal and iron ore.
Today
The first iron was cast on Christmas Eve 1828, on the site of Forezie at Firmi. Then the factory was moved to a place known as Lassalle, which was extended and became a ‘commune’ in 1834 when it was given the name of its founder.
It was very prosperous (in 1842 it harboured the biggest steel factory in France) and expanded rapidly until 1855, the year when the free-trade treaty signed with England caused a long lasting national crisis in the industry.
The open-cast mine (called La Découverte) was first exploited in 1892, but the industry gradually declined after World War I. The underground galleries were abandoned in 1966. The open-cast mine, which was the largest of its kind in France (2,3 miles long, 1,5 miles wide, 1,5 miles deep) became the only focus of interest.
All activity ended in 2001, but the town still bears the marks of its industrial past.
Moreover, Decazeville is an important commercial and industrial centre in the Industrial Valley and in addition, it is situated on the famous pilgrim’s way, “Saint James of Compostella”.
Decazeville’ city hall
Tél: 05 65 43 87 00