Le Blanc-Mesnil

For the village and former commune in the Seine-Maritime, see Blanc-Mesnil.

Le Blanc-Mesnil (French pronunciation: [lə blɑ̃ menil] ^ⓘ) is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 12.6 km (7.8 mi) from the center of Paris, between Charles de Gaulle Airport and Le Bourget Airport.

Le Blanc-Mesnil
Commune
The view towards the Hôtel de Ville
Coat of arms
Location (in red) within Paris inner suburbs
Location of Le Blanc-Mesnil
Le Blanc-Mesnil Show map of France Le Blanc-Mesnil Show map of Île-de-France (region)
Coordinates: 48°56′19″N 2°27′41″E
Country	France
Region	Île-de-France
Department	Seine-Saint-Denis
Arrondissement	Le Raincy
Canton	Le Blanc-Mesnil
Intercommunality	Grand Paris
Government
• Mayor (2021–2026)	Jean-Philippe Ranquet[1]
Area 1	8.05 km2 (3.11 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[2]	59,912
• Density	7,400/km2 (19,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	93007 /93150
Elevation	37–47 m (121–154 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Name

The name Le Blanc-Mesnil was recorded for the first time in the 11th century as Mansionile Blaun. This name is a compound of Medieval Latin Mansionile, meaning 'little houses', from Latin mansio (accusative mansionem), and of Germanic (Old Frankish) blanch, blaun, meaning 'glossy, shining, white', which gave French blanc ('white') and English blank.

The name is interpreted by some as a reference to the houses of Le Blanc-Mesnil which were whitened due to the flour dust coming from the windmills located there in ancient times. One researcher, however, thinks that blanc had also the meaning of 'free' in Old French, and so the name would mean 'free mesnil, free village', perhaps because the villagers had been freed from serfdom. None of these interpretations is certain.

Geography

Nearest municipalities

• Bondy
• Aulnay-sous-Bois
• Drancy
• Le Bourget
• Dugny
• Bonneuil-en-France in Val d'Oise and Gonesse.

History

Prehistory and Antiquity

A discovery in 1984 concerning archeological excavation found three polished axes and modified flint attests a human presence in Le Blanc-Mesnil in the Neolithic period and the Gallo-Roman era.^[3] Shards of gallic ceramic were found.^[4]

The Morée and Molette rivers nearby and the existence of an ancient Roman road support this theory.^[5]

French Revolution

On 2 December 1792, a third of the territory of Aulnay was detached and became the commune of Le Blanc-Mesnil. The current Hôtel de Ville (town hall) was completed in 1967.^[6]

Heraldry

Arms of Le Blanc-Mesnil

The arms of Le Blanc-Mesnil are blazoned : Azure, a cross engrailed Or, a canton chequy argent and azure, in 2nd and 3rd a hand appaumy, in 4th a drageoir (sweetsdish) Or

Economy

• Parc d'activité du Coudray
• Zone industrielle de la Molette in Blanc-Mesnil, Bourget and Drancy. It includes Centre Albert Einstein, created in 1987.
• Parc Modus
• Garonor
• Pont-Yblon
• Centre d'affaires international Paris Nord II
• Carré des Aviateurs
• Espace Descartes, for tourism business. Three hotels three stars, a Novotel hotel.^[7]

French and international companies

Several French companies have their world headquarters in Blanc-Mesnil, such as Forclum and Sicli.

Population

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 120 —     1800 63 −8.79% 1806 83 +4.70% 1821 81 −0.16% 1831 96 +1.71% 1836 109 +2.57% 1841 95 −2.71% 1846 128 +6.14% 1851 119 −1.45% 1856 109 −1.74% 1861 105 −0.74% 1866 138 +5.62% 1872 128 −1.25% 1876 156 +5.07% 1881 166 +1.25% 1886 170 +0.48% 1891 165 −0.60% 1896 170 +0.60% 1901 213 +4.61%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1906 978 +35.64% 1911 1,770 +12.60% 1921 3,932 +8.31% 1926 10,688 +22.14% 1931 19,343 +12.60% 1936 21,660 +2.29% 1946 18,277 −1.68% 1954 25,363 +4.18% 1962 35,708 +4.37% 1968 48,487 +5.23% 1975 49,107 +0.18% 1982 47,037 −0.61% 1990 46,956 −0.02% 1999 46,936 −0.00% 2007 50,910 +1.02% 2012 52,213 +0.51% 2017 56,783 +1.69% 2021 58,257 +0.64%
Source: EHESS[8] and INSEE (1968-2017)[9]

Immigration

Place of birth of residents of Le Blanc-Mesnil in 1999

Born in metropolitan France	Born outside metropolitan France
72.5%	27.5%
	Born in overseas France	Born in foreign countries with French citizenship at birth1	EU-15 immigrants2	Non-EU-15 immigrants
	3.9%	2.7%	5.5%	15.4%
1 This group is made up largely of former French settlers, such as pieds-noirs in Northwest Africa, followed by former colonial citizens who had French citizenship at birth (such as was often the case for the native elite in French colonies), as well as to a lesser extent foreign-born children of French expatriates. A foreign country is understood as a country not part of France in 1999, so a person born for example in 1950 in Algeria, when Algeria was an integral part of France, is nonetheless listed as a person born in a foreign country in French statistics. 2 An immigrant is a person born in a foreign country not having French citizenship at birth. An immigrant may have acquired French citizenship since moving to France, but is still considered an immigrant in French statistics. On the other hand, persons born in France with foreign citizenship (the children of immigrants) are not listed as immigrants.

Administration

Political life

The following political parties have a permanent base in Blanc-Mesnil:

• Parti Communiste Français
• Parti Socialiste
• Union for French Democracy (UDF)
• Union for a Popular Movement (UMP)
• Groupe des Verts

Politics

Mayors

Since Libération Jean-Philippe Ranquet, LR, since 2021. Thierry Meignen, LR, 2014-2021. Didier Mignot, PC, 2008-2014. Daniel Feurtet, PC, 1989-2008. Robert Fregossy, PC, 1965-1989. Eugène le Moign, PC, 1945-1965.

Between 1860 and 1945 Maurice Lambot, 1943–1945 Alfred Dubuissez, 1941–1943 Bernard Legrand, 1939–1941 Henri Duquenne, PC, 1935–1939 Marcel Gerdil, SFIO, 1929–1935 André Neufinck, 1908–1929 Pierre-Hippolyte Jouslain, 1905–1908 Marcel-Edouard Renault, 1892–1905 Michel Renault, 1860-1892[10]

Transport

Le Blanc-Mesnil is served by Le Blanc-Mesnil station on Paris RER line B.

Le Blanc-Mesnil is also served by Drancy station on Paris RER line B. This station (formerly called Blanc-Mesnil-Drancy), although administratively located on the territory of the neighboring commune of Drancy, is the closest from the town center of Le Blanc-Mesnil and is thus used by people in Le Blanc-Mesnil.

The bus company provides 17 lines of buses to travel within the city.

Ideally placed at the junction between the A1 and the A3.

2.5 km (1.6 mi) from Le Bourget airport, 7 km (4.3 mi) from Charles de Gaulle Airport and 4.5 km (2.8 mi) from Parc des Expositions de Villepinte, one can easily get to Parc Astérix and Disneyland as well as the centre of Paris and the Stade de France.

Religion

Catholic churches: Église Notre-Dame, Église Saint-Charles, Église Sainte-Thérèse. Evangelic churches: Charisma Église Chrétienne

Education

The commune has the following schools: four preschools in the south, seven preschools in the centre of town, and six preschools in the north. It has four elementary schools in the south, six elementary schools in the centre, and six elementary schools in the north.^[11]

Junior high schools:

• Collège Aimé et Eugénie Cotton
• Collège Descartes^[12]
• Collège Marcel Cachin
• Collège Nelson Mandela

Senior high schools:

• Lycée Jean Moulin [fr]
• Lycée professionnel Aristide Briand
• Lycée Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The Médiathèque Edouard Glissant/Bibliothèque Jacques Prévert serves as the municipal library.^[13]

Environment

Parks and gardens

• Jacques-Duclos Park
• Vineyards produces Clos blanc-mesnilois, a Chardonnay
• Vegetal wall of Forum culturel by Patrick Blanc
• Place de l'eau
• Jardin de Montillet
• Square Stalingrad

Sports

Blanc-Mesnil Sports (BMS), founded in 2005, is the city's sport club.

International relations

Le Blanc-Mesnil is twinned with:^[14]

• Sandwell in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom,
• Peterhof in Russia,
• Debre Berhan in Ethiopia,
• Beni Douala in Algeria.

For fifteen years, twinning between le Blanc-Mesnil and Debre Berhan has been based on the development: water sanitation, education, construction of roads. In a rare spirit, that of a collaboration of equal to equal.

Personalities

• Jérémy Abadie, footballer
• Adil Aouchiche, footballer
• Amara Baby, footballer
• Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, hockey player
• Jonathan Biabiany, footballer
• Jean-Felix Dorothee, footballer
• Abdou Doumbia, footballer
• Morgaro Gomis, footballer
• Raphaël Guerreiro, footballer
• Sylvie Guillem, star dancer at Paris Opera
• Patrick Hernandez, famous singer of Born to Be Alive
• Mickael Marolany, footballer
• Fabien Marsaud, known as Grand Corps Malade, slam poet
• Fabrice N'Sakala, footballer
• Moussa Sissoko, footballer
• Ludovic Sylvestre, footballer
• Tristan Valentin, road bicycle racer
• Élisabeth Vonarburg, writer of science-fiction

See also

• Communes of the Seine-Saint-Denis department