Patrimony
Industrialisation
From 1900 on, the closeness of the railway -(for the carriage of raw materials and the dispatch of end products)-, and the tram track -(for the transport of personnel)- enabled the establishment of major industries along Grande Rue, mainly around the Croix-Rouge district, i.e. part of the territory between the railway track (East) and Grenoble city limits (West). Among the companies set up in the area, the major Neyret-Brenier factory, specialising in mechanical constructions and metallurgy in the field of hydroelectric power, underwent rapid expansion. Alphonse Brun extended the Paganon distillery while Gaëtan Brun set up a war-bread factory in 1913-1914, which became a biscuit factory in 1959. In the Galochère district, a mechanical sawmill (still in existence today) was established in 1913 as well as two smaller businesses dealing with mechanics and metallurgy. In 1920 and 1927, respectively, a road-building business (another Brun company) and a tannery employing 250 people were also established in Croix-Rouge.
The 1921 census showed 2508 inhabitants. The occupations declared by the inhabitants were now metal turners, milling machine operators, factory workers at Neyret, female workers at the Brun biscuit factory...
Between them, these five companies employed over 3000 people in 1936 (out of the 5600 people living in Saint-Martin-d'Hères). This favoured the arrival and establishment of successive waves of immigration: initially from Italy and Spain throughout the 1920's, then the Armenian refugees towards the end of the 1920's, and finally Spanish political refugees in 1936.
The Croix-Rouge district became a large centre neighbouring Grenoble and constituted the heart of the city. As early as 1923, an annexe of the town hall was built. An additional school became necessary, built in 1932 on the Eastern side of the railway track, half-way between the Galochère and Croix-Rouge districts. Until 1961, it accommodated not only the children from the Galochère district, but also those coming from the intermediate districts of Portail Rouge and Cité Labeye. A fourth school was built in the Teyssère district. At that point in time, this district underwent major development following the establishment of a Grenoble-based railway sub-contractor (Soulage factory) whose workers were housed in Saint-Martin-d'Hères.
Up until the middle of the 1950's, urban development took place mainly in Croix-Rouge district and along Grande Rue (which has now become the Grenoble-Chambéry National Road 523). Houses were built, while at the same time the Minimes district, Cité Labeye and the factory Brun workers' housing estate in Portail-Rouge (in 1954) were developed. Several smaller businesses were also established: a biscuit factory, a chemicals manufacture in Cité Labeye, an agricultural equipment manufacture in Portail-Rouge, as well as several workshops (cabinet-making, carpentry, various mechanic and repair shops, garages). Following the "Loucheur" Act in the 1930's, these businesses gradually developed in the small streets of the neighbouring districts.
In Teyssère, the "Castors" housing development was set up next to the Soulage workers' housing estate in 1951. At the foot of the village, "Bâticoops" (said "white houses") was the first estate, with some twenty houses, developed in 1953.
Neyret Brenier & Co, workers on their way out.
Panoramic pictures: la halle Neyrpic