| Maisons-Alfort | |
| Commune Status: | Commune |
| Image Coat Of Arms: | Blason Maisons-Alfort 94.svg |
| Map: | Maisons-Alfort map.svg |
| Map Caption: | Paris and inner ring departments |
| Coordinates: | 48.8058°N 2.4378°W |
| Arrondissement: | Nogent-sur-Marne |
| Canton: | Maisons-Alfort |
| Insee: | 94046 |
| Postal Code: | 94700 |
| Mayor: | Marie France Parrain[1] |
| Term: | 2021 - 2026 |
| Intercommunality: | Grand Paris |
| Elevation Min M: | 24 |
| Elevation Max M: | 47 |
| Area Km2: | 5.38 |
Maisons-Alfort (in French pronounced as /mɛzɔ̃ alfɔʁ/) is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 8.4km (05.2miles) from the center of Paris.
Maisons-Alfort is famous as the location of the National Veterinary School of Alfort. The Fort de Charenton, constructed between 1841 and 1845, has since 1959 housed the Commandement des Écoles de la Gendarmerie Nationale.
Originally, Maisons-Alfort was called simply Maisons. The name Maisons comes from Medieval Latin Mansiones, meaning "the houses".
At the creation of the commune during the French Revolution, the name of the hamlet of Alfort was joined with the name of Maisons. The name Alfort comes from the manor built there by Peter of Aigueblanche, Bishop of Hereford (England), in the middle of the 13th century. The name of this Manor of Hereford was corrupted into Harefort, then Hallefort, and eventually Alfort. The National Veterinary School of Alfort was settled several centuries later in the manor and its estate.
On 1 April 1885, 40% of the territory of Maisons-Alfort was detached and became the commune of Alfortville.
In 1905, Buffalo Bill stayed two months in Maisons-Alfort while his famous Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show performed in Paris.
At 8.39am on 8 September 1944 a V-2 rocket landed and killed six people at Charentonneau,[2] launched from Petites-Tailles, near Houffalize, in south-east Belgium by Lehr und Versuchsbatterie 444.[3] This was the first destruction caused by a V-2 rocket.[4] [5]
Later that day, a V-2 rocket from Wassenaar in the Netherlands, launched by 485 Artillerie Abteilung at 6.37pm, would hit Staveley Road in west London.
The population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Maisons-Alfort proper, in its geography at the given years. The commune of Maisons-Alfort ceded the commune of Alfortville in 1885.
Maisons-Alfort is part of the arrondissement of Nogent-sur-Marne. It is the only commune of the canton of Maisons-Alfort.[6]
The commune has:[7]
See main article: List of twin towns and sister cities in France. Maisons-Alfort is twinned with Moers in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Maisons-Alfort is served by three stations on Paris Métro Line 8:,, and .
It is also served by two stations on Paris RER D: and .