“Jean Bos. Who was he?” I ask. Avenue Jean Bos in Champigny-sur-Marne might seem like any other street. However, it carries a name with a story. It is a story we will uncover together.
Avenue Jean Bos is a street in Champigny-sur-Marne. It is part of the Île-de-France region. The avenue is identified by the code 940174730L in the French FANTOIR system. This system is used to uniquely identify streets and buildings.
Unfortunately, the archives are silent about Jean Bos himself. We can look at the broader context of avenues in France. Let’s explore the grand avenues of Paris. Perhaps this will give us a sense of the history.
Consider Avenue Foch. It is one of the most prestigious streets in Paris. It was named after World War I Marshal Ferdinand Foch in 1929. Before that, it was known as the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne. Avenue Foch is known for its grand city palaces. The Onassis and Rothschild families once lived there. The Rothschilds owned numbers 19–21.
Avenue Foch runs from the Arc de Triomphe. It goes southwest to the Porte Dauphine. This is at the edge of the Bois de Boulogne city park. It is the widest avenue in Paris. Chestnut trees line its full length. Emperor Napoleon III ordered its construction. It was part of a plan to reconstruct Paris. Baron Haussmann, prefect of the Seine, conducted the plan. The avenue was designed to connect the Place de l’Étoile with the Bois de Boulogne.
The original plan was for an avenue forty metres wide. Haussmann changed it to one hundred metres wide. This made it wider than the Champs-Élysées. Its purpose was to provide a grand approach to the park. Fashionable Parisians would promenade in their carriages. They wanted to see and be seen. The avenue was initially named Avenue de l’Impératrice. This was in honor of Empress Eugenie. She was the wife of Napoleon III.
Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand built the avenue. He also designed the Bois de Boulogne. The avenue opened in 1854. It quickly became popular. The name changed after Napoleon III’s downfall. It became Avenue du Général-Uhrich. Later, it changed again to Avenue du Bois de Boulogne. Finally, in 1929, it became Avenue Foch.
During World War II, Parisians nicknamed it Avenue Boche. The Gestapo had local headquarters there. British agent Peter Churchill was tortured at number 84. He survived the war. The gardens of Avenue Foch cover 6.62 hectares. They once contained 2,400 different species of trees and plants.
Back on Avenue Jean Bos, we may not find such grandeur. Yet, every street has its story. Avenue Jean Bos in Champigny-sur-Marne is a place of everyday life. It is a reminder that history is not just in palaces. It is in the names we give to our streets. It is in the lives lived along them. Though Jean Bos remains a mystery, his name lives on here. This avenue is a small piece of the larger Parisian story.