3 km from the famous Villa Cavrois (belonging to the Centre des Monuments Nationaux), the Cavrois-Mahieu textile mill is a witness of the industrial adventure of the Cavrois family, but also of the thousands of workers and various executives who worked there from 1887 to 2000.
Jean Cavrois-Mahieu, a textile manufacturer with a cotton mill in Roubaix, founded the "Cavrois-Mahieu et fils" company on Montgolfier street in 1887, to install his sons Jean and Auguste Cavrois-Lagache. It is first of all a wool spinning mill to which are quickly added the activities of weaving, dyeing and finishing.
In 1919, after the war in which his elder brother Jean died, Paul Cavrois-Vanoutryve, owner of the Villa Cavrois (built in 1932 by the architect Robert Mallet-Stevens), joined the company founded by his grandfather. He remained there until 1965, when he died. The industrialist succeeded in developing the family business, which he took over in 1935 and reached its peak in the 1950s.
He placed each of his four sons at the head of a sector : Jean at the spinning mill, Francis at the weaving mill, Michel at the dyeing mill, Paul junior at the finishing mill. At that time, the flourishing company had about 1000 employees, who animated the neighborhood at the entrance and exit times, Volta street and Montgolfier street.
