Lesdiguières, Jouvin, Perrier, Navarre

The Navarre familly, whose offices were incremented with the initials “PN” and can be seen along the road D 529, established themselves in Champ-sur-Drac in 1903.

Three factors are then favourable for the manufacturing of cardboards : the Drac water, the luscious oak wood reserves and the electricity provided by the Fure and Morge power plant.

The only remains of this industrial past is the “cité Navarre” which had been built by the stationers for their workers. We can see 17 ranks of houses which are still inhabited by workers descendants. It was a litlle town, which was self-sufficient because one could have a kindergarten, a school, a church, farms and a retailer. The working city had its own war memorial and its own village hall where a magnificent drop cloth has been found where the factory and its vicinity can be seen.

Where the retailer used to be it is now the museum “Autrefois”, the real living memory of the village and of its industrial saga.

The Perrier family

Won over by Mounier's and Barnave's liberal ideas, Claude Perrier opened his castle for the “Three Orders” meeting. An event, now recognised of having been a crucial moment in the revolutionary process which spread later throughout the whole country.

Augustin, his son, gave an incredible boost to the economy of Vizille thanks to the development of the textile industry. After the terrible fire which devastated the castle, he took an active part in the reconstruction of the neighbourhood. He also dug under the rock situated under the chateau du Roi, in order to create a tunnel so as to be able to catch up with the valley of Vaulnaveys.

An other son, Casimir, was Louis-Philipe's minister. His descendants, among whom the future President of the Republic payed their tribute in associating the first name with the last name which gave the name : Casimir -Perrier.

The grand-son, Adolphe, created the park “à la française” and set up a fish farming in the castle park where trouts, salmons, chars and lavarets.

The family of the famous glovers acquired several goods in Jarrie and in particular the great park which is now called the “Clos Jouvin”. Jules Jouvin, as early as 1860 made important fittings and creations in the park and in the house which shelters nowadays the museum of chemistry and the Jarrie city hall.

At this time, through the Jouvin's impetus, the marshes were drained and canals were created ; it was thus possible then to cultivate and to implant other activities. During several decades, the jouvin family actively participated in the community's life.

Xavier Jouvin gave a new pulse to the glove industry. He established a scale of sizes and invented the “main de fen” which allowed to cut several pieces of gloves simultaneously. A statue in Grenoble commemorates him and is situated in a square named after him, between the street Saint Laurent and Quai Mounier.

The Jouvin family

Lesdiguieres

Lesdiguères who was a former middle class cadet and the son of a notary in Champsaur became one of the protestant leader in the Dauphiné. Moreover, he was a military genius who acquired the nickname “mountain fox”. He was nominated by Henry the 4th as the first lieutenant of the Dauphiné, field-marshal of France and peer. When he forswore and converted to the Catholic religion, he then became the Duke of Lesdiguères, supreme commander of the French king's army, Governor of the Picardie region as well as the Bourbon and Artois region.

Once the peace back after the wars of religion, in 1593, Lesdiguères became a committed lord and decided to have the Romanche river confined. He built from 1600 to 1620 a new castle and a huge park in Vizille.

This great builder decided to carry on major works of civil engineering such as bridges like the one in Pont de Claix, roads going from Vizille to champ – sur – Drac via Mésage and made fortifications in Grenoble. He also built the first paper factory in Vizille.

The equestrian statue of the Supreme Commander is exhibited in the museum of the Revolution since 2003 whereas an other one is at the pediment of the entrance gate and which dates back to 1612 when the castle was built.