A hamlet called Sancti Stephani and dependent on the Abbey of Saint-Wandrille was reported in the ninth century in a royal charter. The village then developed along the road connecting Paris to Rouen. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the parish had five hundred inhabitants. The population grew, benefiting from arable land near the river, as well as rich forests, moors and grasslands.
The town began to take its urban and industrial character from the mid-nineteenth century with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and the arrival of the railway. The first steam trains of Western Railway Company between Paris and Rouen began service in , [ 5 ] increasing the attractiveness of the town for industry. The s saw the establishment of a large cotton factory creating hundreds of jobs, and led to the expansion of the town to accommodate its expanding workforce.
In the early twentieth century, the opening of the railway workshops of Quatre-Mares , the arrival of Camille Cavallier 's Fonderie Lorraine in and the Stationery Chapel reinforced the industrial character of the city. He commanded Fliegerabteilung Artillerie , an artillery spotting unit, but flew patrols in a single-seat fighter with Jasta Boelcke whenever possible.
During one such patrol on March 21, , he was forced to land because of a bullet in his engine and with a slight wound to his foot. He landed his Albatros aircraft in no-man's land , but while running towards his own lines he was shot in the back and severely wounded by Australian troops.
The commune is served by the Rouen tramway. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects.
