357–551 m (1,171–1,808 ft) (avg. 480 m or 1,570 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Saint-Galmier (French pronunciation:[sɛ̃ɡalmje]ⓘ) is a city in eastern France. It is a commune in Loiredepartment, and belongs to the arrondissement of Montbrison.[3] Saint-Galmier covers an area of 19.5 square kilometers. As of January 2021, it had a population of 5,842.
Saint-Galmier, located on the river Coise, south-central Loire,[4] is a regional central city known for the mineral water Badoit produced there.
Place name
Old stone bridge across the Coise River
The name of Saint-Galmier is from the Catholic saint Galmier or Baldomerus, who was a monk at the Basilica of Saint Justus in Lyon.[5]
During the French Revolution, Saint-Galmier was renamed Fontfortville by the revolutionaries because of his religious color,[clarification needed] where "Fontfort" means "stable fountain".[5]
Geography
Map of the municipality of Saint-GalmierThe natural scenery around Saint-Galmier
Saint-Galmier is located in the western foothills of Mount Lyonnais. The center of the town is located in a valley, with a relatively flat terrain, with an elevation of 357 to 551 meters.[4]
River
The river Coise, a right tributary of the Loire, flows from east to west through the town.[4]
Plant
Saint-Galmier belongs to the temperate deciduous forest area, which is mainly distributed on both sides of the Coise River and around the city area.[4]
Saint-Galmier was rated as a 4-star (highest) flower city in an evaluation of flower cities.[6]
According to the national statistics office INSEE, Saint-Galmier is part of the functional urban area (aire d'attraction des villes) of Saint-Étienne, which consists of 105 communes.[9][10][11] INSEE also divides the town of Saint-Galmier into two "blocks" (IRIS)[4][12] to facilitate the statistics of population distribution.
Population
In 2018, the commune of Saint-Galmier had a population of 5,737, ranking 1,903th in France. Of these, 2,782 are men and 2,940 are women, 9.0% are aged 75 and above. The number of foreigners is 1,061, with a population density of 295 per square kilometer. The local population is called Baldomériens (male) or Baldomérienne (female) in French.[6] In 2019, 49 people were born and 91 people died in Saint-Galmier.[6]
Historical population
Year
Pop.
±% p.a.
1793
2,000
—
1800
2,394
+2.60%
1806
2,479
+0.58%
1821
2,790
+0.79%
1831
2,659
−0.48%
1836
2,805
+1.07%
1841
2,758
−0.34%
1846
3,010
+1.76%
1851
2,952
−0.39%
1856
2,932
−0.14%
1861
2,954
+0.15%
1866
3,035
+0.54%
1872
2,902
−0.74%
1876
2,936
+0.29%
1881
3,022
+0.58%
1886
3,410
+2.45%
1891
3,257
−0.91%
1896
3,296
+0.24%
Year
Pop.
±% p.a.
1901
3,104
−1.19%
1906
3,059
−0.29%
1911
3,030
−0.19%
1921
2,549
−1.71%
1926
2,529
−0.16%
1931
2,543
+0.11%
1936
2,524
−0.15%
1946
2,507
−0.07%
1954
2,573
+0.33%
1962
2,608
+0.17%
1968
2,910
+1.84%
1975
3,109
+0.95%
1982
3,680
+2.44%
1990
4,272
+1.88%
1999
5,293
+2.41%
2009
5,596
+0.56%
2014
5,669
+0.26%
2020
5,837
+0.49%
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Saint Galmier is a spa town and the source of Badoitmineral water. The thermal spring was known in Gallo-Roman times, but its fame increased with the general growth in interest in thermal cures in Europe during the nineteenth century.
Before Auguste Badoit commercialised the water in the 1830s, both the water and the spring from which it emerged, were known as "Fontfort". For this reason, during the French Revolutionary period, the town was briefly known as "Fontfortville".
