Forges de Syam

It is reasonable to imagine it as part of the region's expansion in the metal-working industry in the 16th century, after establishment of the first smelting furnaces in the Saône valley.

In conjunction with this skill, extensive woodland on the Jura mountains around the town provided the raw material for charcoal, a form of carbon free of sulphur and other impurities that make most coal unsuitable for iron working.

Other industrialists of the Jura, of the Vosges and Alsace began production, contributing to Charles-Joseph Péry declaring himself bankrupt on 24 July 1810.

Also in 1810, Etienne Monnier who had married Adélaïde, the daughter of Claude Jobez in 1800, invested in the company alongside his father-in-law and the latter's son, Emmanuel.

Alphonse Jobez, the son of Emmanuel, set up a nail works in 1864, which gave new life to an enterprise that had neared collapse.

From 1825, Emmanuel Jobez developed the project of building a Palladian villa, the Château de Syam to replace the old house beside the original forge.

He applied it at Syam by creating a cité ouvrière (compare Saltaire), adjoining the factory, encouraging the setting up of a school and a dispensary.

Today, this remnant of the iron industry of the 19th century feeds the market in short-run products, particularly in the fields of locksmiths' work, motor cars and lifts (elevators).