Vernon, Eure

Vernon
Old mill on the broken bridge
Coat of arms
Location of Vernon
Country	France
Region	Normandy
Department	Eure
Arrondissement	Évreux
Intercommunality	Portes de l'Eure
Government
• Mayor (2008–2014)	Philippe Nguyen Thanh
Area 1	34.92 km2 (13.48 sq mi)
Population  (2008)	24,998
• Density	720/km2 (1,900/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	27681 /27200
Elevation	10–148 m (33–486 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Vernon is a commune in the department of Eure in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.

It lies on the banks of the Seine River, about midway between Paris and Rouen. The city is well known for its production of engines by the SNECMA group.

History

1027 - 1030 : Mention in a Latin written document as Vernum, the /m/ at the end could be the last remains of the Celtic magus 'plain' or 'market', or it is a simple latinization, and the origin is just the Celtic word *uerno, alder tree (Breton gwern, Irish fern).

The village gave its name to a family who took part to the Norman Conquest of England and then became a British first name.

Important dates

• 750 - First mention of name Vernon by Pepin the Short.
• 1070 - Birth of Saint Adjutor.
• 1153 - Vernon is besieged by king Louis VII.
• 1196 - Vernon is joined to the royal domain by King Philip II Augustus.
• 1204 - Building of the Vernon Castle
• 1227 - Saint-Louis comes to Vernon.
• 1415 - Vernon becomes English.
• 1449 - Vernon passes to France (king Charles VII).
• 1596 - 8 October, Henry IV visits the Bizy Castle.
• 1600 - Construction of the Vieux-Moulin (old mill).
• 1606 - Henry IV creates a school.
• 1723 - Creation of the l'Avenue des Capucins.
• 1789 - Thomas Jefferson, his family, and Sally and James Hemings stop at Vernon on their way to Le Harve to return to America.
• 1804 - Vernonnet is attached to Vernon.
• 1810 - Napoleon I comes to Vernon.
• 1843 - Arrival of the railroad Paris-Rouen-Le Havre.
• 1858 - Building of the Saint-Louis Hospital.
• 1860 - Highworks urbanism in the center by Suchet d'Albuféra.
• 1862 - Building of the library.
• 1895 - Inauguration of the new cityhall by Adolphe Barette.
• 1897 - First cinema show at the Theatre from Vernon.
• 1910 - The Seine river overfloods the city.
• 1946 - Arrival of 28 German scientists from Pennemünde to develop French rockets.
• 1951 - First attempt to launch a Veronique-rocket (Vernonelectronic) [1]
• 1955 - Inauguration of the Clemenceau Bridge.
• 1966 - Building of the Georges Dumézil highschool .
• 1983 - First edition of the Foire aux Cerises (cherry fair).
• 1988 - 18 October, visit from François Mitterrand.
• 1992 - Building of the Espace Culturel Philippe Auguste.
• 1996 - 30 June, visit from Hillary Clinton.
• 2004 - 16 January, visit from Jean-Louis Borloo.
• 2004 - 29 January, visit from Alain Lambert.
• 2006 - 26 January, visit from Nicolas Sarkozy
• 2007 - 18 September, visit from Sharon Stone.
• 2007 - 19 September, visit from Emperor of Japan Akihito.
• 2008 - 15 June, visit from Laura Bush.
• 2009 - 16 March, visit from Bruno Le Maire.
• 2010 - August, produce film Maupassant with Cristiana Réali and Patrick Chesnais in historic city.
• 2010 - 6 August, visit from Woody Allen, Rachel McAdams, Owen Wilson, and Adrien Brody for production of Midnight in Paris in Giverny.
• 2010 - 14 December, visit from Nicolas Sarkozy, Bruno Le Maire, Valérie Pécresse, Eric Besson, Louis Gallois at Snecma

Population

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1793	4,029	—
1800	5,202	+29.1%
1806	4,793	−7.9%
1821	4,812	+0.4%
1831	4,888	+1.6%
1836	5,301	+8.4%
1841	6,128	+15.6%
1846	5,204	−15.1%
1851	6,463	+24.2%
1856	7,674	+18.7%
1861	7,410	−3.4%
1866	7,787	+5.1%
1872	7,961	+2.2%
1876	7,636	−4.1%
1881	7,881	+3.2%
1886	8,164	+3.6%
1891	8,288	+1.5%
1896	8,492	+2.5%
1901	8,757	+3.1%
1906	8,667	−1.0%
1911	8,733	+0.8%
1921	8,814	+0.9%
1926	9,725	+10.3%
1931	10,621	+9.2%
1936	11,330	+6.7%
1946	11,242	−0.8%
1954	14,460	+28.6%
1962	17,247	+19.3%
1968	18,872	+9.4%
1975	22,422	+18.8%
1982	22,243	−0.8%
1990	23,659	+6.4%
1999	24,063	+1.7%
2008	24,998	+3.9%

Personalities

• Tongo Hamed Doumbia, footballer
• Chantal Jouanno (born July 12, 1969), politician, former Secretary of State for Ecology.
• Joseph Mallord William Turner (April 23, 1775 - December 19, 1851), Romantic landscape painter.
• Jeremy Thiry-Césaire (born October 5, 1980), politician, relative of the writer, poet and politician Aimé Césaire.

Gallery

• 
  Collégiale Notre-Dame (now Parish Church)
• 
  Tour des archives (Philippe Auguste's Keep)
• 
  Maison du Temps Jadis (Medieval House)
• 
  Corner of Rue du Pont and Rue Carnot
• 
  Museum
• 
  Place Barette
• 
  Hôtel de ville (Town Hall)
• 
  Tomb of Saint Mauxe
• 
  War memorial
• 
  Pont Clémenceau
• 
  Place Charles de Gaulle's Market Day
• 
  Espace Philippe-Auguste-Culture Centre

See also

• Communes of the Eure department

References

• INSEE

External links

• Vernon - Official tourist board website in English
• Official website (in French)
• Vernon Unofficial website (in English and French)
• Vernon News Vernon Section of Giverny News (In French)