Ferrière-la-Grande () is a commune in the

Nord Nord, a word meaning "north" in several European languages, may refer to: Acronyms * National Organization for Rare Disorders, an American nonprofit organization * New Orleans Recreation Department, New Orleans, Louisiana, US Film and televisi ...

department in northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

.INSEE commune file
/ref> The river

Solre Solre is a river in France that runs in the Département Nord in the region Hauts-de-France. It originates from the confluence of two source streams at Solre-le-Château, in the Avesnois Regional Nature Park. The river generally drains to th ...

flows through the commune. In 1828 Pierre François Dumont applied for a concession to operate iron mines in the canton of

Maubeuge Maubeuge (; historical nl, Mabuse or nl, Malbode; pcd, Maubeuche) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is situated on both banks of the Sambre (here canalized), east of Valenciennes and about from the Belgian bord ...

, and for authorization to establish two iron furnaces at Ferrière-la-Grande powered by steam. Dumont founded the factories at Ferrière-la-grande in 1830, the first coke-fired blast furnaces in the north of France to produce and mould pig-iron from the local minerals. By decree of 23 April 1859 Dumont was granted a concession to build a railway line to link the factories Ferrière-la-Grande to the Saint-Quentin line at

Erquelinnes Erquelinnes (; wa, Erkelene) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Located on the border with France, where the commune of Maubeuge lies, Erquelinnes had a total resident population of 9,549, in 2006. The tot ...

. The line was built on land acquired by Dumont or expropriated on the grounds of public utility.

Population

Heraldry

See also