Molenbeek-Saint-Jean

As early as the 9th century, Molenbeek was the site of a church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. In the early Middle Ages, Molenbeek was known for its miraculous well of Saint Gertrude of Nivelles, which attracted thousands of pilgrims.

Saint John's Dancers in Molenbeeck', Pieter Brueghel the Younger, 1592

The village was made part of Brussels in the 13th century. As a result, Molenbeek lost a lot of its land to its more powerful neighbour. In addition, its main church was dismantled in 1578, leading to further decline. The town's character remained mostly rural until the 18th century.

At the end of the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution and the building of the Brussels–Charleroi Canal brought prosperity back to Molenbeek through commerce and manufacturing. In 1785, the town regained its status as an independent municipality. Attracted by the industrial opportunities, many workers moved in, first from other Belgian provinces and France, then from South European, and more recently from East European and African countries.

De voddenrapers [The Trash Pickers], Eugène Laermans (1914), with Molenbeek as setting

The growth of the community continued unabated throughout the 19th century, leading to cramped living conditions, especially near the canal. The town became known as Little Manchester or the Belgian Manchester.[8][9] On 5 May 1835, Molenbeek was the departure site of the first passenger train in continental Europe.[10][11] At the end of the 19th century, Brussels reintegrated the canal area within its new port, which was thus lost to Molenbeek.

Until the early 20th century, Molenbeek was a booming suburb which attracted a large working-class population. The industrial decline, which had already started before World War I, accelerated after the Great Depression.

Following the industrial decline after the war, the districts bordering the City of Brussels began to decrease in population. This was not addressed until the 1960s through the construction of new residential areas in the then-rural west of the town. In 1990, this expansion was halted, leaving some woods and meadows in Molenbeek: the Scheutbos.[12]

Tour L'Ecluse, Boulevard Mettewie

Where Molenbeek was once a centre of intense industrial activity, concentrated around the canal and the railway, most of those industries have disappeared to make way for large-scale urban renewal following the modernist Athens Charter. The industrial past is remembered in a museum of social and industrial history built on the site of the former foundry of the Compagnie des Bronzes de Bruxelles.[9]

In some areas of the town, the ensuing poverty left its mark on the urban landscape and scarred the social life of the community, leading to rising crime rates and pervading cultural intolerance. Various local revitalisation programmes are currently under way, aiming at relieving the most impoverished districts of the municipality.

Attempts at revitalising the municipality have, however, not been successful. In June 2011, the multinational company BBDO, citing over 150 attacks on their staff by locals, posted an open letter to then-mayor Philippe Moureaux, announcing its withdrawal from the town.[13] As a result, serious questions were raised about governance, security and the administration of Moureaux.[14]

According to Le Monde, the assassins who killed anti-Taliban commander Ahmed Shah Massoud both came from Molenbeek.[15] Hassan el-Haski, one of the 2004 Madrid terror bombers, came from Molenbeek.[16][17] The perpetrator of the Jewish Museum of Belgium shooting, Mehdi Nemmouche, lived in Molenbeek for a time.[18] Ayoub El Khazzani, the perpetrator of the 2015 Thalys train attack, stayed with his sister in Molenbeek.[19] French police believe the weapons used in the Porte de Vincennes siege two days after the Charlie Hebdo shooting were sourced from Molenbeek.[20] The bombers of the November 2015 Paris attacks were also traced to Molenbeek;[21] during the Molenbeek capture of Salah Abdeslam, an accomplice of the Paris bombers, protesters "threw stones and bottles at police and press during the arrest", stated the then-Interior Minister of Belgium, Jan Jambon.[22] Oussama Zariouh, the bomber of Brussels Central Station in June 2017,[23] lived in Molenbeek.[24]

At least four of the terrorists in the November 2015 Paris attacks — the brothers Brahim and Salah Abdeslam, alleged accomplice Mohamed Abrini, and the alleged mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud — grew up and lived in Molenbeek. According to former French President François Hollande, that was also where they organised the attacks.[25] On 18 March 2016, Salah Abdeslam, a suspected accomplice in those attacks, was captured in two anti-terrorist raids in Molenbeek that killed another suspect and injured two others. At least one other suspect remains at large.[26][27][28] Ibrahim (born 9 October 1986 in Brussels) was involved in the attempted robbery of a currency exchange office in January 2010, where he shot at police with a Kalashnikov rifle. The then-mayor of Brussels, Freddy Thielemans, and the then-mayor of Molenbeek, Philippe Moureaux, described the shooting as a "fait divers" (a small daily news item) and "normal in a large city", causing controversy.[29]

Since several of the attackers in the Brussels and Paris terrorist attacks had connections to the area, Belgian police started door-to-door checks in which a quarter of Molenbeek's inhabitants were investigated, a total of 22,668. This operation resulted in that of the 1,600 organisations investigated, 102 were found to be involved with crime and a further 52 were involved with terrorism. 72 individuals were found to have a terrorist connection and were subject to future surveillance.[30][31]

• Sources: INS: 1806 to 1981= census; 1990 and later = population on January 1

Historical list of mayors or burgomasters of Molenbeek:

• 1800–1812: J.-B. De Roy
• 1812–1818: FR. De Putte
• 1818–1819: V. Van Espen
• 1819–1830: F. Vanderdussen
• 1830–1836: Ch. Deroy
• 1836–1842: P.-J. Meeüs
• 1843–1848: A. Vander Kindere
• 1848–1860: H.-J.-L. Stevens
• 1861–1863: J.-B. De Bauche
• 1864–1875: L.-A. De Cock
• 1876–1878: G. Mommaerts
• 1879–1911: Henri Hollevoet (liberal)
• 1914–1938: Louis Mettewie (liberal)
• 1939–1978: Edmond Machtens (PSB)
• 1978–1988: Marcel Piccart (PS, later FDF)
• 1988–1992: Léon Spiegels (PRL)
• 1992–2012: Philippe Moureaux (PS)
• 2013–2018: Françoise Schepmans (MR)
• 2018–present: Catherine Moureaux (PS)

The Molenbeek football team Racing White Daring Molenbeek, often referred to as RWDM, was a very popular football club until its dissolution in 2002. Its successor, R.W.D.M. Brussels F.C., used to play in the Belgian first division. It folded at the end of 2012–13 as a member of the Belgian Second Division. Since 2015, its reincarnation RWDM47 is back playing in the fourth division.

Comte de Flandre/Graaf van Vlaanderen metro station

The main roads that cross Molenbeek are Boulevard Léopold II/Leopold II-laan, Chaussée de Gand/Steenweg op Gent and Chaussée de Ninove/Ninoofsesteenweg running east-west, as well as Boulevard Mettewie/Mettewielaan running north-south.

Molenbeek is served by Brussels' metro lines 1, 2, 5 and 6. Brussels-West and Beekkant metro stations are connected to all of Brussels' metro lines and are multi-modal transport hubs in western Brussels. The former will also gain importance in the framework of the Brussels RER/GEN development. Additionally, a comprehensive bus a tram service links Molenbeek to other parts of the region. The municipality also has a number Villo! public bicycle stations on its territory.

• Wolmar, Christian (2010). Blood, Iron & Gold: How the Railways transformed the World. London: Grove Atlantic. ISBN 9781848871717.