LE QUARTIER DE LA LIBÉRATION

Located outside the old city, the district was urbanized after the Second World War. Its name refers to the entry of American troops into Bar-le-Duc via this axis on August 31, 1944. A marker along the avenue commemorates this event. Away from the historic heart of the city, the confluence area of the Canal des Usines and the Ornain has been occupied since the Middle Ages by craft activities. In the 13th century, Count Henri II had a mill installed at the current intersection of Rue Poincaré and Rue des Foulans. In 1581, after the agreement of the Dukes of Bar and Lorraine, an "esmouerie" was installed downstream, place of manufacture of swords, sabres and articles of iron or steel used for armament. Cutlers, tailors and tanners then come to join this first establishment. In the 18th century in the 19th century, the City granted the right to install a blowing snow factory that would operate about 50,000 tons of blowing snow a year years. In 1830, a forge for refining cast iron was soon in operation. These activities which could cause nuisances or even involve risks (explosions) for the population are deliberately set up far from the town. On the edge of the rue des Clouyères (now boulevard Raymond Poincaré) and at the beginning of the former route de Châlons, General Broussier, a native of Ville-sur-Saulx, had a house built on the road to Châlons in the heart of a vast property, on the model of what Marechal Oudinot will do on the street Rabbit. Later named "château Nicolas" because of its owner Roussel, master of forge, it will later be sold and divided. The boarding school of the Poincaré high school was built there. At the end of the Second World War, Bar-le-Duc experienced housing problems linked to a strong demographic pressure, old and dilapidated housing and significant industrialization. It was therefore decided to build a new district composed of a group of buildings and detached houses. In the heart of this new district where green spaces occupy a large part of the area square, is the church of Notre-Dame de Lourdes, ardently defended by Canon Monflier (1896-1966), then archpriest of Bar-le-Duc. Built on a centred plan, it is nowadays desacralized. A pedestrian footbridge over the Ornain River leads to the "Beavers", built homogeneously shortly before the Liberation.