When Nogent-le-Rotrou marries the United States

Nogent-le-Rotrou will twin with the American city of Wayne, Illinois. The two towns have a common history: Percheron horses.

Posted on 13 Sep 19 at 11:32

In November, a delegation of Wayne (United States) will come to Nogent-le-Rotrou (Eure-et-Loir) to spend three days and thus formalize their twinning. Why this city in the suburbs of Chicago and the capital of pole will they get closer? Jean-Léo Dugast, photographer and journalist, unveils the underside of this wedding.

"The dollars were raining in the Perche"

"Wayne and Nogent have a connection," he explains. Interested in the history of the percheron horse, he worked for ten years on this subject, "with trips to the United States." For his work the golden age of the Percheron horse. We must then go back in time.

Particularly in the 19th century.

"In 1887, four years after the creation of the Société Percheronne Hippodrome (SHP), 3,000 horses went to America," notes Jean-Léo Dugast.

Indeed, the Americans settled and needed this animal for the construction of the cities.

During his research, he noted that "at that time, the Huisne Valley and Nogent-le-Rotrou lived on the other side of the Atlantic. The dollars rained for several decades with the arrival of farmers "in the country of Uncle Sam. The journalist thus" peeled the archives of the Horse Company, buried under rubbish ".

"Important to exhume forgotten links"

And goes back and forth between Perche and Illinois. As one of the pioneers, Mark W. Dunham, who owned a large farm, "was the benefactor of Perche and the creator of the SHP at that time."

The idea of ​​twinning then trotted in the head of Jean-Léo Dugast. During a chance meeting at the horse festival at the Ecomuseum of Perche in August 2018, "we had discussed this book and Wayne," explained Catherine Catesson, president of the International Cultural Exchange Committee.

Contacts are established. The respective mayors, Eileen Phipps and François Huwart, write themselves. Both are enthusiastic. "It's very important to unearth forgotten links. The link that unites us is a pivotal period that has made our history "says the elected Nogentese.

"Wayne's mayor was moved"

Jean-Léo Dugast still remembers the delivery of the letter to Eileen Phipps, "she was very moved". For François Huwart, this twinning "goes in the same direction as the enhancement of our heritage (castle, museum, Hôtel-Dieu, Notre-Dame church)".

Normally, while waiting for his response to confirm, "the delegation should come in November. Or, at the latest, next spring. "

A three-day visit to visit our region and seal the twinning.

"The Mayor of Wayne will be there with two people who have lived in the castle of Dunham who is in the Percheron or Norman image ". The descendants of former French families of Percheron breeders will also be invited. The opportunity for Jean-Léo Dugast to present his book that will be available in November, "with 500 pages and as many illustrations."