Épinay-sur-Orge

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Administration
Commune of Épinay-sur-Orge
Location
Longitude	02°19'41"
Latitude	48°40'29"
Country	France
Region	Île-de-France
Department	Essonne
Arrondissement	Palaiseau
Canton	Longjumeau
Intercommunality	none
Mayor	Guy Malherbe (2001-2008)
Statistics
Altitude	36 m–89 m
Land area¹	4,44 km²
Population² (2006)	9,457 (Spinoliens)
- Density (1999)	2,117/km²
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	91216/ 91360
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 mi² or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel).

Épinay-sur-Orge is a commune of France, 17 km south of Paris on the A6 motorway. It is situated near Orly airport and has two stations on different branches of line C of the RER (ehr-eh-ehr) suburban railway system, Épinay-sur-Orge and Petit-Vaux.

The inhabitants are known as Spinoliens.

The town is located on a plate surrounded by three rivers:

Rouillon runs to the north of the city, and is thrown in the Yvette ;

The Yvette runs north towards the south, to the east of the town, and flows into the Orge through Épinay-sur-Orge with the communes of Villemoisson-sur-Orge and Savigny-sur-Orge.

The Orge runs in the south of the town.

The area of Epinay-sur-Orge was inhabited from prehistoric times. The town is first mentioned in a 9th century document as Spinetum. Traces of habitations from the Middle Ages have been found at Breuil (in the South) and Petit Vaux (West of the present-day centre). Slowly, such clusters of building grew towards one agricultural settlement. From May 1843, the development of the town received a boost from becoming a stop on the Paris-Orléans railroad (now the main RER station)

Epinay-sur-Orge was long known for its system of market gardens, providing Parisians with fresh vegetables. The gardens were irrigated with a system of locks in the rivers. Only one of these remains. To the south-east of the town is the psychiatric hospital "Vaucluse". The building was the expatriate home of a rich Irishman who left it to the Départment of the Essonne in 1863 on the condition that it be turned into an "asylum for the mad". Reconstruction was finished in 1865. In 1869 the hospital opened with a capacity of around 1000 patients. At that time, the town had a population of 587. Patients built the tower on the grounds, as this was considered therapeutic. There is a long history of conflict between the hospital and the town over the high water level, caused by the river locks, which eroded the land of the hospital and flooded the patients' gardens.

Another monument is the city hall, originally the palace of the Duchess Carafa de Noja. After her death in 1923, the town bought the building and surrounding park. This finally allowed the construction of a fresh water supply system (1923) and electrification (1925). The grand avenue leading towards the palace is still clearly recognizable, with cherry trees blooming in spring.