Malvilliers
Origin of the name Malvilliers
Malvilliers is recorded in the early 15th century in the forms « Malavilliers » or « Molavilliers ». The name is said to come from the Latin « mala villa », « bad estate », probably alluding to the poor soil (to be cross-checked). The hamlet is said to have been nicknamed « Jérusalem, terre déserte » (to be cross-checked). The suffix « villiers », shared by several places in the Val-de-Ruz (Boudevilliers, Villiers, Vilars), comes from the Late Latin « villa », a rural estate. From about the 16th to the 19th century, the hamlet was also called « chez les Bille », after the family who farmed it.
Founding of Malvilliers
Malvilliers was never a municipality: it is one of the three hamlets of the former municipality of Boudevilliers, with La Jonchère and Landeyeux. Boudevilliers, recorded in 1195, was given in 1308 by Jean de Chalon-Arlay to the Count of Neuchâtel Rudolf IV (Rollin) and until 1807 formed a count's mairie enclosed within the lordship of Valangin. In the early 15th century a document lists the inhabited places of the area: « Budevilliers, Jouchière, Sappierre, Malavilliers et Plencherel »; Sappierre and Plaincherel have since disappeared (to be cross-checked). An isolated farming estate of a few farms, Malvilliers became a junction with the Vue-des-Alpes road, first built in 1810, and then a small health resort in the early 20th century, with a sanatorium and a holiday camp of La Chaux-de-Fonds.
History of Malvilliers
1195. First reliable mention of Boudevilliers, of which Malvilliers is a hamlet, in the form « Boudeviler »; a form « Boldiwiler » from 1144 is also cited (to be cross-checked).
1308. Jean de Chalon-Arlay gives Boudevilliers to Rudolf IV (Rollin), Count of Neuchâtel; from then on the territory forms a count's mairie enclosed within the lordship of Valangin, until 1807.
Early 15th century. First attested mention of Malvilliers (« Malavilliers » or « Molavilliers ») among the hamlets of the territory of Boudevilliers, alongside La Jonchère, Sappierre and Plaincherel, the latter two having since disappeared.
1531. Introduction of the Protestant Reformation in the region. A statistic of the time estimates the population of the territory of Boudevilliers, Malvilliers included, at around 155 inhabitants (an estimate of 5 people per household, for 31 households recorded).
1585. A list counts 142 names in the seigneury, suggesting a total population significantly larger, close to that of the 19th century (to be cross-checked).
16th to 19th century. The hamlet is locally known as « chez les Bille », after the name of the family who farms it, before returning to its original name of Malvilliers.
1806-1812. Construction of the Vue-des-Alpes road, first built in 1810; it opens up Malvilliers and makes it a junction between Neuchâtel, the Val-de-Ruz and La Chaux-de-Fonds.
1848. During the republican revolution of Neuchâtel in March 1848, the surrender of a small royalist troop is obtained at Malvilliers. An episode linked to this period is said to have taken place at the Ancienne Poste inn. The same year, the house of Samuel-Henri Guyot is built, still mentioned today as a landmark of the hamlet.
1853-1854. Construction of the La Chotte building in Malvilliers (to be cross-checked).
1863. A major fire strikes the territory of Boudevilliers; its effect on Malvilliers is not known (to be cross-checked).
early 20th century. Malvilliers becomes a small health resort, with a sanatorium and a holiday camp of La Chaux-de-Fonds. A postcard « Sanatorium de Malvilliers » postmarked 1919 bears witness to it.
1901-1968. The La Chotte building is said to house the children's holiday camp (to be cross-checked).
1921. Entry in the commercial register of the « Fondation neuchâteloise en faveur des tuberculeux et des personnes atteintes de maladies pulmonaires », today the « Fondation neuchâteloise et du Dr Humbert »; its link with the Malvilliers sanatorium remains to be cross-checked.
1930. Opening of the Maison cantonale d'éducation de Malvilliers, known as « Les Sorbiers », intended for about twenty children in difficulty.
1936. Entry of the institution in the commercial register as a foundation (exact date to be cross-checked).
1949. Construction of the Vanel building on the same site, as an observation and treatment home for difficult children (to be cross-checked).
1963. Merger of Les Sorbiers and Le Vanel under a single foundation, the ancestor of today's Centre pédagogique de Malvilliers.
1982. Renovation of Le Vanel, which becomes solely a school; new buildings replace the former Sorbiers.
2011. The La Chotte building becomes an ambulance dispatch centre (to be cross-checked).
2013. On 1 January 2013, Boudevilliers, and therefore its hamlet of Malvilliers, merges with fourteen other municipalities to form the new municipality of Val-de-Ruz. Malvilliers had never been an independent municipality before this date: it passed directly from the status of a hamlet of Boudevilliers to that of a hamlet of Val-de-Ruz.
Population of Malvilliers
| 1531 | 31 hearths (households) (former municipality of Boudevilliers) |
| 1750 | 367 (former municipality of Boudevilliers) |
| 1850 | 578 (former municipality of Boudevilliers) |
| 1870 | 658 (former municipality of Boudevilliers) |
| 1900 | 513 (former municipality of Boudevilliers) |
| 1941 | 491 (former municipality of Boudevilliers) |
| 1950 | 524 (former municipality of Boudevilliers) |
| 2000 | 718 (former municipality of Boudevilliers) |
| 2011 | 754 (former municipality of Boudevilliers) |
| 2012 | 766 (former municipality of Boudevilliers) |
Historic sites in Malvilliers
The Vue-des-Alpes crossroads. Malvilliers lies on the old main road linking Les Hauts-Geneveys to Boudevilliers, today the main road 20. Long a simple isolated farming estate, the hamlet became a strategic crossroads after the construction of the Vue-des-Alpes road in the early 19th century, connecting Neuchâtel to La Chaux-de-Fonds and the Montagnes neuchâteloises.
Malvilliers and the 1848 Neuchâtel revolution. During the march of the republican insurgents toward Neuchâtel in March 1848, Malvilliers was the scene of a military episode: the surrender of a small royalist troop was obtained there. This episode is linked to the Ancienne Poste inn, then an important stopping point.
The Centre pédagogique de Malvilliers. Since 1930, the site has hosted a specialised educational institution, born from the Maison cantonale d'éducation de Malvilliers (Les Sorbiers), joined in 1949 by the Vanel building. Merged in 1963 under a single foundation, these structures today form the Centre pédagogique de Malvilliers (CPM), still active, dedicated to caring for and educating children, adolescents and adults with special educational needs.
Remains in Malvilliers
The Ancienne Poste. This pink house once served as an inn and post relay; it is said to have played a role in the Neuchâtel revolution of 1848 (to be cross-checked).
La Chotte. Built in 1853-1854, La Chotte is said to have had several successive uses: children's holiday camp from 1901 to 1968, centre for disabled children, gendarmerie school, and an ambulance dispatch centre since 2011 (to be cross-checked).
The Samuel-Henri Guyot house (1848). A house dated 1848, cited as a historic landmark of the hamlet (to be cross-checked).
The Centre pédagogique buildings (Les Sorbiers and Le Vanel). The Vanel building, built in 1949, still exists and today serves as a school within the Centre pédagogique de Malvilliers. The current Sorbiers buildings, for their part, date from a 1982 reconstruction, replacing the original 1930 structures.
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Boudevilliers »
- Wikipédia (anglais), Boudevilliers
- Wikipédia (allemand), Boudevilliers
- Wikipédia (français), Boudevilliers
- Geneawiki, Suisse - Boudevilliers (ancienne commune)
- Junod.ch, monographie Boudevilliers (PDF)
- Chemins-Chouettes, Miniguide Balade 7 Val-de-Ruz (PDF)
- Commune de Val-de-Ruz, À voir ou visiter
- Commune de Val-de-Ruz, La commune en bref
- Marche du 1er Mars, page Histoire
- Centre pédagogique de Malvilliers, page Historique
- Moneyhouse, fiche Centre pédagogique de Malvilliers
- Moneyhouse, fiche Fondation neuchâteloise et du Dr Humbert
- Revue In Situ (OpenEdition), Forme des territoires communaux et structure du bâti dans les cantons de Vaud et de Neuchâtel
- Wikipédia (français), Route principale 20 (Suisse)
- Mapcarta, Malvilliers
- Delcampe, carte postale Sanatorium de Malvilliers (cachet 1919)
- Kids.Kiddle.co, Boudevilliers facts for kids (données démographiques dérivées de Wikipédia)
- État de Neuchâtel, arrêté du 6 février 2013 portant homologation des résultats du recensement cantonal de la population du 31 décembre 2012
- État de Neuchâtel, arrêté du 4 février 2026 homologuant le recensement cantonal de la population au 31 décembre 2025
Other villages near Malvilliers
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