At the top of the park lies the Maison de l'Air, a small museum designed to educate visitors to the importance of fresh air and to the problems of pollution.

[3] In the mid-eighteenth century, the celebrated publican Ramponneau's tavern "Au Tambour Royal"[5] served a young, slightly effervescent wine made from the Belleville grapes called Piquette.

[citation needed] The opening of a gypsum quarry in the nineteenth century attracted a population of seasonal workers (often stonemasons), who worked on Baron Haussmann's construction projects during the winter and returned home in the summer to tend their fields.

[3] In the 19th century, the cottages which at the time stood on both sides of the steps leading up to the present-day park gave the hill an appearance similar to that of Montmartre.

They belonged to Julien Lacroix, one of the most important landowners of the hill of Belleville, and a street which runs alongside the park now bears his name.