On June 9, 1920, the Dunlop tire company acquired the old loading workshops located in the Loue area. Oddly enough, the event was passed over in silence during the municipal council held two days later in Montluçon. The company, which announces the creation of 1,500 jobs for men and as many for women, could never have come to the Allier.
1. Before Dunlop, la Pyrotechnie, a company that loaded shells in La Loue
In October 1915, the Ministry of War bought the Loue farm to set up a shell loading workshop. The construction of the buildings is entrusted to the Mercier company. In July 1916, Pyrotechnics, as the Montluçonnais say, begins production. Very quickly, it became an important place for loading shells (30,000 per day) and employed up to 9,200 people. The end of the war automatically results in the cessation of production and mass unemployment in the city.
During the First World War, the pyrotechnics factory was in full swing.
2. Mayor Paul Constans in favor of setting up a carpentry workshop
On January 4, 1919, Mayor Paul Constans sent a letter to the Ministry of Industrial Reconstruction. “The loading workshops are equipped to immediately produce carpentry work, such as doors and windows, essential furniture and locks. The elected official advances other avenues such as the repair of wagons or the production of agricultural machinery. “I am surprised that this possibility envisaged by the managers of the loading workshop has not yet been favorably received by your services”, worries Paul Constans.
3. Michelin announces its interest in the old loading workshops
This is what reveals a letter sent by Paul Constans, in May 1919, to the Ministry of Industrial Reconstruction. “I would like to inform you without delay that the Michelin factories are ready to acquire all of the loading workshops, land, buildings and machines, except everything that is special to the loading and unloading of projectiles. I have undertaken to let them know as soon as possible the price requested by the State for this transfer, the date when they can be made available, bringing to Montluçon an industry which would develop considerably there. “
4. Louis Rebière, the man through whom the miracle happened
Originally from Chambon-sur-Voueize, in Creuse, Louis Rebière noticed during one of his many trips between Paris and Montluçon that important buildings were free in the city on the banks of the Cher. The director-director of Dunlop then decides to propose their purchase to its board of directors, which accepts. In a letter addressed to Paul Constans in August, Louis Rebière specifies that he presented a proposal to purchase the Loading Workshop from the Ministry of Industrial Reconstruction.
The Dunlop factory, after World War II, employed more than 5,000 people.
Jacques Parfait, former director of Dunlop Montluçon: “We have done beautiful things”
“We want to have a decision before September 1, when we must ourselves make a decision about another location for which we are covered by an option. “The director, who says he is ready to” go into operation in the shortest possible time “, puts forward” the double advantage of relieving congestion in the Paris region and using a large part of the workforce available in Montluçon “. Dunlop has also announced that it intends to transfer its head office to Montluçon.
Sources. Dunlop, decades of history shared by Pierre Couderc ?; municipal archives of Montluçon.
THE PARISIAN LEADERS OF DUNLOP HAVE BREAKED DOWN
The establishment of Dunlop in Montluçon did not happen with a simple wave of the magic wand. The obstacles were numerous to the point that the Parisian leaders almost dropped the case.
The Artillery veto. On September 11, 1919, the indicators were rather green since the Ministry of Armament announced that it was in favor of “the disaffection of the loading workshop and its use by industry”. The price offered by Dunlop is even considered “sufficiently reasonable”. In December, enthusiasm is no longer in order. The Artillery services have let it be known that they do not accept this disaffection. Then, “draconian clauses” are imposed on Dunlop which, among other things, must “remove 500,000 tons of shells that exist in the various buildings of the Workshop, return to the State” the railroads that we could not use “And demolish” the ovens which will certainly no longer be fashionable in the event of a future war “.
A specification impossible to keep. According to the managers of the company, who claim to have given up on several purchases of land, the specifications make it “impossible for any industrialist concerned to keep his commitments to the State the purchase of land. ” Montluçon loading workshop […]. In a new letter sent on December 24 to Paul Constans, the director Jean Pétavy is even more alarmist. “We fear that, as a result of the opposition we encounter, we will be forced to give up the game.” Three months later, the situation does not seem to have really changed, especially as reservations are issued by the direction of the Artillery and the Ministry of Finance. “I understand your optimism very well (to Paul Constans, Editor’s note) but I had so many disappointments in this affair […]. I fear that we will be obliged several times to send the file from one ministry to another and that in the end the third direction of the Artillery, which has never hidden that it wanted to keep The loading workshop, eventually obtain satisfaction by moving away from each other through weariness ”.
The enthusiasm of Mayor Paul Constans. In April, a clearing finally takes shape. Dunlop filed an inquiry with the town hall office for the purchase of land in Montluçon and… Néris-les-Bains. “It is not likely that a single protest will rise against your establishment,” assures Paul Constans. All the opinions that I have been able to gather are clearly favorable to you. ”
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Fabrice Redon
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