Gonesse (French pronunciation: [ɡɔnɛs] ) is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department, in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 16.5 km (10.3 mi) from the centre of Paris.

Gonesse
Town hall
Town hall
Coat of arms of Gonesse
Location (in red) within Paris inner and outer suburbs
Location (in red) within Paris inner and outer suburbs
Location of Gonesse
Map
Gonesse is located in France
Gonesse
Gonesse
Gonesse is located in Île-de-France (region)
Gonesse
Gonesse
Coordinates: 48°59′15″N 2°26′58″E / 48.9875°N 2.4494°E / 48.9875; 2.4494
CountryFrance
RegionÎle-de-France
DepartmentVal-d'Oise
ArrondissementSarcelles
CantonVilliers-le-Bel
IntercommunalityCA Roissy Pays de France
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) Jean-Pierre Blazy[1]
Area
1
20.09 km2 (7.76 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[2]
25,963
 • Density1,300/km2 (3,300/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
95277 /95500
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

The commune lies immediately north of Le Bourget Airport,[citation needed] and it is six kilometres (four miles) south-west of Charles de Gaulle International Airport.[3]

History

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Since Carolingian times, cereals have been grown in Gonesse. In the period of the 12th through to the 16th centuries, the cultivation of grain was supplemented by drapery, in particular the production of the coarse woollen material of the gaunace.[4] The commune was an important producer of wheat for the Parisian market in modern times, until the decline of its bakery trade at the end of the 18th century helped feed a strong migration to the capital.[4]

 
The balloon built by Jacques Charles and the Robert brothers is attacked by terrified villagers.

The world's first hydrogen filled balloon—the unmanned balloon launched by Jacques Charles and the Robert brothers from the Champ de Mars in Paris on 27 August 1783—flew for 45 minutes and landed in Gonesse, where the reportedly terrified local peasants destroyed it with pitchforks. This caused the government to issue a statement on the harmlessness and the scientific value of such experiments.

In 1815, Marshal Grouchy arrived in Gonesse in the course of the War of the Sixth Coalition, with 40,000 troops and 120 artillery pieces. On 2 July, the Duke of Wellington made his headquarters at the commune.

Since June 1939, the property Frapart (the Castle) is used as the main establishment of the urban administration.[4]

Jean Camus, Louis Furmanek, Pierre Lorgnet, and Albert Drouhot from Gonesse belonged to the French Resistance movement during the German occupation of France from 1940 to 1944.

On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590—a Concorde supersonic transport—crashed onto a hotel in the town after a tyre blew out, caused by running over a strip of metal that had fallen off a DC-10 at nearby Charles de Gaulle International Airport.[5] The crash led to the deaths of all 109 people on board and four more on the ground.[6] The Concorde crash occurred fewer than 6 km from Goussainville, the site of the crash of the supersonic Tupolev Tu-144 during the 1973 Paris Air Show.

Population

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Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1793 2,400—    
1800 2,216−1.13%
1806 2,020−1.53%
1821 2,008−0.04%
1831 2,147+0.67%
1836 2,123−0.22%
1841 2,221+0.91%
1846 2,257+0.32%
1851 2,263+0.05%
1856 2,348+0.74%
1861 2,684+2.71%
1866 2,831+1.07%
1872 2,526−1.88%
1876 2,859+3.14%
1881 2,935+0.53%
1886 3,008+0.49%
1891 2,642−2.56%
1896 2,678+0.27%
YearPop.±% p.a.
1901 2,757+0.58%
1906 2,902+1.03%
1911 3,131+1.53%
1921 3,231+0.31%
1926 3,537+1.83%
1931 4,359+4.27%
1936 4,638+1.25%
1946 4,006−1.45%
1954 4,881+2.50%
1962 8,517+7.21%
1968 21,187+16.40%
1975 21,390+0.14%
1982 22,896+0.98%
1990 23,152+0.14%
1999 24,721+0.73%
2007 26,262+0.76%
2012 26,343+0.06%
2017 25,999−0.26%
Source: EHESS[7] and INSEE (1968-2017)[8]

Sights

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Hotel-Dieu
 
Mural of Seb Toussaint in the La Fauconnière district

Among the places worthwhile to visit in the town are the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, the old Hotel-Dieu, the Hotel-Dieu, the lofts Garlande and Orgemont, and the estates of Malmaison and of Coulanges.

Transport

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Gonesse is served neither by the Paris Métro, RER, nor the suburban rail network. The closest station is the Villiers-le-Bel–Gonesse–Arnouville station on the Paris RER D. This station is located in the neighbouring commune of Arnouville-lès-Gonesse, 2.6 km (1.6 mi) from Gonesse town centre.

Education

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As of 2015, the commune had 20 municipal primary schools with a total of 3,526 ;pupils, including 11 pre-schools (écoles maternelles) with a total of 1,389 pupils (in addition to 20 children in toute petite programmes) and nine elementary schools with 2,137 total pupils.[9]

Junior high schools:

  • College Philippe Auguste[10]
  • Collège Robert Doisneau[11]
  • Collège François Truffaut[12]

There is one senior high school, Lycée René Cassin-Gonesse.

Notable people

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Twinning with Leonessa

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Gonesse has been twinned with the town of Leonessa in Rieti, Italy, since 1981.[13]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
  2. ^ "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
  3. ^ "Concorde trial starts ten years after crash." Reuters. September 27, 2013. Retrieved on September 27, 2013. "[...]the plane crashed into a hotel in the town of Gonesse, six kilometres (four miles) south-west of Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport."
  4. ^ a b c Histoire de Gonesse – Quelques repères historiques Archived 2011-10-03 at the Wayback Machine. Ville-gonesse.fr, retrieved July 11, 2011
  5. ^ Nick Smith: Classic engineering projects – Concorde Archived 2011-05-06 at the Wayback Machine. Engineering & Technology, April 15, 2011, retrieved July 11, 2011
  6. ^ "BBC News – EUROPE – Concorde crash kills 113". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  7. ^ Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Gonesse, EHESS (in French).
  8. ^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
  9. ^ "Projet Educatif Territorial Ville de Gonesse 2015-2018." Gonesse. p. 7/65. Retrieved on September 3, 2016.
  10. ^ Home. Collège Philippe Auguste. Retrieved on September 3, 2016.
  11. ^ Home. Collège Robert Doisneau. Retrieved on September 3, 2016.
  12. ^ Home. Collège François Truffaut. Retrieved on September 3, 2016.
  13. ^ Jumelage et partenariats Archived 2011-09-03 at the Wayback Machine. Ville-gonesse.fr, retrieved July 11, 2011
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