Valdahon
| Valdahon | ||
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| region | Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | |
| Department | Doubs | |
| Arrondissement | Pontarlier | |
| Canton | Valdahon | |
| Community association | Portes du Haut-Doubs | |
| Coordinates | 47 ° 9 ' N , 6 ° 21' E | |
| height | 551-736 m | |
| surface | 25.51 km 2 | |
| Residents | 5,595 (January 1, 2017) | |
| Population density | 219 inhabitants / km 2 | |
| Post Code | 25800 | |
| INSEE code | 25578 | |
| Website | www.valdahon.com | |
 Town Hall ( Hôtel de ville ) |
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Valdahon is a French municipality with 5595 inhabitants (as of January 1 2017) in Doubs in the region Bourgogne Franche-Comté . Valdahon forms a regional center in the French Jura and siting municipality of the 3500 hectare training area Camp du Valdahon .
geography
Valdahon is located at 650 m above sea level, about 26 kilometers east-southeast of the city of Besançon (as the crow flies). The village extends in the Jura , in the middle of the wide plateau of Valdahon, the so-called first plateau of the Jura, north of the first higher Jura ranges (Cicon and Crêt Monniot ).
The area of the 25.51 km² municipal area covers a section of the French Jura. The entire area is occupied by the low relief high plateau of Valdahon, which averages 630 m. It is predominantly made up of arable and meadow land, partly also of forest, and gradually rises towards the southeast. With the exception of a few short rivulets (including the Dahon, which reaches the village from the south), the plateau has no above-ground running water because the rainwater seeps into the karst subsoil. To the east, the communal soil extends into the Grand Bois et Viard forest. At 736 m, the highest point in Valdahon is reached on a knoll near Étray.
The slightly undulating northern part of the municipality (with 15.5 km² around 60% of the entire municipality area) belongs to the Valdahon military training area, which covers a total area of 35 km². The municipal area extends over the Plateau du Haricot to the hollows of Combe de Jeuve (in the west) and Combe de l'Epinay (in the north).
The municipality of Valdahon consists of two parts that have grown together practically without gaps:
- Le Valdahon-du-Bas ( 638 m )
- Le Valdahon-du-Haut ( 655 m )
Neighboring municipalities of Valdahon are Vercel-Villedieu-le-Camp in the north, Chevigney-lès-Vercel in the east, Épenoy and Étray in the south and Fallerans and Verrières-du-Grosbois in the west.
history
Valdahon was first mentioned in a document in the 12th century. It has belonged to the Cicon rule since the Middle Ages. During the Thirty Years' War Valdahon was pillaged and pillaged by troops of Duke Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar in 1639. Together with Franche-Comté , the village came to France with the Peace of Nijmegen in 1678. A devastating village fire destroyed numerous houses on November 11, 1844. With the inauguration of the Besançon- Morteau line in 1884, Valdahon was connected to the French railway network. The training area Valdahon was established in 1907 and later expanded, with the former settlement of Villedieu-le-Camp had to be abandoned. On August 27, 1944, eight people (five men and three women) were murdered by militiamen in Valdahon.
Today Valdahon is the administrative seat of the Portes du Haut-Doubs municipal association . On January 1, 2009, the arrondissement membership of the municipality was changed. Previously belonging to the Arrondissement Besançon , all municipalities of the canton came to the Arrondissement Pontarlier.
Attractions
The village church of Saint-Michel in Valdahon was built in the 18th century. Another church is located in the district of Le Valdahon-du-Bas. In the old town center there are still some farmhouses in the characteristic style of Franche-Comté from the 18th and 19th centuries.
population
| Population development | |
|---|---|
| year | Residents |
| 1962 | 1779 |
| 1968 | 2252 |
| 1975 | 2597 |
| 1982 | 3242 |
| 1990 | 3534 |
| 1999 | 4027 |
| 2006 | 4728 |
| 2016 | 5605 |
With 5595 inhabitants (January 1, 2017) Valdahon is one of the medium-sized municipalities in the Doubs department. After the population had fluctuated between 800 and 1000 people during the 19th century, a marked increase in population was recorded in the first decades of the 20th century, particularly due to the establishment of the military camp. From 1930 to the mid-1950s, however, a decrease of almost 60% was registered again. Since then, the number of inhabitants has increased continuously, with increased growth observed in recent years.
Economy and Infrastructure
For a long time, Valdahon was primarily a village characterized by agriculture (arable farming, fruit growing and cattle breeding). In the 19th century the watch industry was of some importance and since the beginning of the 20th century Valdahon has benefited from the presence of the military training area.
Today Valdahon is a regional center with a well-developed infrastructure and thus takes on central local functions for the surrounding agricultural area. Since the 1970s, commercial and industrial zones have been created on the outskirts, which today offer space for more than 60 companies. A wide variety of industries are represented in Valdahon: micromechanics, watchmaking, a slaughterhouse (for pigs), wood processing, toy manufacturing, and construction and transportation. There are other jobs in the tertiary sector, in numerous retail stores, in the hospitality industry, in administration as well as in banks and insurance companies. Valdahon is the administrative seat of the Communauté de communes du pays de Pierrefontaine-Vercel.
Valdahon is also the location of a college. It has a community library as well as various sports facilities and a swimming pool.
The village is well developed in terms of traffic. It is on the main road that leads from Besançon via Morteau to La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland. Other road connections exist with Pontarlier , Vercel-Villedieu-le-Camp, Épenoy and Étray. Valdahon has a train station on the railway line from Besançon to Le Locle . There is a military airfield at the military training area.
Town twinning
Valdahon maintains a city partnership with Maulbronn in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.
literature
- Le Patrimoine des Communes du Doubs. Volume 2, Flohic Editions, Paris 2001, ISBN 2-84234-087-6 , pp. 1347-1348.
