VANISHED INDUSTRY

ONE EXAMPLE: THE RAFFINERIE SAY WAS THE WORLD'S MAIN SUGAR REFINERY AND A HOUSEHOLD WORD IN ITS DAY

(1832*-1968)

* An example of capitalism's take-off after the Revolution of 1830

The plant

Zoom (a series of photos of the time)

Zoom (for  more pictures, please scroll down)

This aerial view of 1950 shows the establishment's extent. In fact it was much larger, since the part that is now a park with a supermarket is cut off. 

The establishment covered both sides of rue Jeanne d'Arc, which had been built for repression after the insurrection of June 1848

and when the riot mentioned on the preceding page broke out in  1934, finally was used as intended: 

      Adapted from a map of 1892 / zoom

 # # #

A worker remembers:

"We held on thanks to coffee and sugar, which we consumed on the spot because we were searched at the exit.

My fingers bled and I would cry every night." 

-- Suzanne Chaveau, employed at Say from 1942 /
 cited in The Say refinery or Jamaica in  Paris, 2012 (in French)

Paris treizième

Working hours: 6 a.m.- 6 p.m., six days a week.

Accidents, explosions and fires: This explosion led to 41 victims,

some of whom were buried alive.

(In 1908)

Explosion at the Say refinery, Paris treizième

It was Say's third catastrophe since 1904, and other establishments had their own.

-- A rich industrial Past," Histoire et histoires du 13e," n° 19, 2020 (in French)

The explosion of October 10, 1915, « Paris treizième »

"The President of the Republic Raymond Poincaré on the site of the catastrophe"

"Unfortunately accidents are not rare," says the text before going on to other things.

# # #

The trace of the refinery now

History of Paris

The Say raffinery

"An industrialist from Nantes, Louis Say in 1832 buys the terrain of the 'Jamaican refinery,' then in Ivry, behind the barrier derrière of the Two-Windmills [useless erudition]: All the area in front of us. Its cauldrons produce two or three tons of sugar daily as of 1832, and its success makes it world-size with the arrival of 'indigenous' [?] beet sugar; the Say refinery is famous for its social works: In 1863 Constant Say creates bonuses and retirements for the infirm and elderly, and in 1868 a fund to help the sick and wounded. In 1900, this manufactory, which closed in 1968, was the world's most important, with 600t. per day." 

The sign mentions palliatifs, 

omits working conditions and accidents.  

*    *    *

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