In April of 1814, Jean-Joseph Pasteur, a sergeant-major in Napoleon’s army, was given his “discharge”. The descendant of a family of tanners, he returned to Salins (Jura) to work in his uncle’s tannery.
It was here that he met Jeanne-Etiennette Roqui, a native of Marnoz, a neighbouring village. They married on the 27th of August 1816 and later settled in rue des Tanneurs in the town of Dole.
It was on the harsh winter’s morning of 27th December 1922 that Louis Pasteur was born in Dole. On 15th January 1823, he was baptised in the collegiate church of Dole. And it was in this house, at number 43, situated along the Canal des Tanneurs, that the famous scientist Louis Pasteur took his first steps…
In the spring of 1825, the Pasteur family moved away from Dole to settle in Marnoz in the Roqui family house which Jeanne-Etiennette Pasteur had inherited. But the village was not favourable to tanning operations and the Pasteur family soon returned to Arbois to work in a tannery bordering the Cuisance
On the 14th of July 1883, at the town’s invitation, Louis Pasteur returned to Dole to unveil the plaque which even now graces the facade of the house at No.43 rue Pasteur: Louis Pasteur was born here on 27 December 1822.
In the presence of the large throng of inhabitants in attendance, he delivered his famous speech as a tribute to his parents: “Oh! my father and my mother! oh! my dear lost ones, who lived so modestly in this little house, it is you to whom I owe everything...”
Early in the 20th century, the town of Dole took the decision to purchase the birthplace of Louis Pasteur with a view to turning it into a museum in his memory. An international subscription was launched and donations from all over the world were collected. The house, which was already classified as a Historical Monument, was acquired in 1912 by the town of Dole.
However, the museum project was delayed by the outbreak of the First World War, and would not be inaugurated until May 1923, shortly after the centenary of Louis Pasteur’s birth. The President of the French Republic, Mr. Millerand, was in attendance and the town magnificently decorated.
