The village hall

As the successor to Gustave Papillon, Eugène Boulet only narrowly beat Donat Lemaitre in the May 1904 elections. Boulet was farmer and a court expert, a man of strong character and of strong political convictions. He stood as the defender of the rural environment. He was reelected in 1908 and in 1912 and in 1913 presented an innovative idea to his council members: a room, a space where the local people could amuse and enjoy themselves in total security, under the control of the municipality. In fact the villagers could meet on a Sunday afternoon to drink and to dance. It was a place for enjoyment, but these joyful libations often degenerated into fights, some of them bloody. 

As in so many of these valley villages, the working classes were poverty-stricken and the consumption of alcohol, especially absinthe, wrought havoc on many of them. Two years before it was banned, because of its neurotoxic content,  absinthe, or La Fée Verte (The Green Fairy) as it was known, was considered an absolute scourge.

When land and vacant properties adjacent to the town hall were put up for sale, it was considered a blessing for the municipality and once it had bought them, the Rouen architect Jules Duboc was asked to draw up the plans for the village hall. 

Adjudication was granted the following August 21st and the work began in the autumn and was completed in early 1914. The finishing touches, especially the decoration, were added in the autumn just as general mobilisation was happening. 

During the war the building was used to house German prisoners of war, who worked on the local farms. Afterwards it became the compulsory place for associative and municipal events, public meetings, cinema, dances and concerts, theatrical plays and revues, exhibitions, banquets, evening festivities and more. The population growth since the 1980s however required a replacement building, but the project was regularly postponed in favour of other investments judged to be more important. 

The new building was finally programmed during the mandate of Gérard Munérot (2001-2008). The  Tourelles village hall was opened on September 26th 2009. 

Since April 9th 2013 the former village hall has been called the Eugène Boulet Hall, after its initiator.

Alain Dugard