THE FOUNDER

The younger years

Born in 1930, in a modest agricultural household in the canton of Bourgueil, Maurice Dufresne is the third of six children. Whatever the weather, he will have to walk, on his clogs, 8 kilometres each day to go to the communal school of Chapelle-sur-Loire. Even if he is not very talented in spelling, young Maurice is clever! He knows how to calculate and thinks fast.. At the age of fourteen, he enters into the French organization of craftsmen and artisans, the Compagnons du Devoir, to learn the trade of blacksmith. Already sturdy, with skilful hands and ingenious, he takes his tour around France from patron to patron and he gets to know twenty-two places in eight years. It’s during one of these journeys, at a patron in Saint-Laurent-en-Gâtines, that he meets Jeannine. She becomes the mother of his three children and a precious co-worker.

From Compagnon to entrepreneurship

At the age of twenty-two, the mother of the Compagnon house offers him the management of a blacksmith’s workshop in Villeperdue, in the Indre-et-Loire region. For four years he engages himself in his work as a blacksmith but, being observant and clairvoyant, he rapidly realizes that the end of the horse era is near and that it is time to move on to something else. Then he gets the idea to make trailers for tractors! In 1958, he starts his business in Villeperdue. His trailers sell quickly (more than a thousand) and soon he runs out of base material which he needs for construction of the trailers. Four years later he therefore launches himself into the recycling of metals.

The beginning of a dream

The more he gathers, the more his thoughts move ahead. He feels the world turning and the evolution of technical advancement of all these things from the past that everyone is looking to get rid of to replace it by more modern machines. Maurice Dufresne strongly disagrees! His intuition tells him differently, one has to preserve those old pieces and certainly not let them fall into oblivion. His thoughts harass him until the night.. He continues to stack in Villeperdue: tractors, cars, trucks, agricultural tools and everything that gets into his hands! The ten acres of the park are no longer sufficient! But it’s just as well, because meanwhile the idea has gained ground….

The creation of the Museum

It’s on a property of more than 6 acres, at <Moulin de Marnay>, located near Azay-le-Rideau, on the bank of the river l’Indre, where Maurice Dufresne decides to locate his museum. In 1983, he buys this ruin of which not much is left, not even the structure, only just the walls and machinery which is out of order. Former dilapidated paper mill founded in 1820, which becomes a canning factory in 1948 and later on a chocolate/candy factory… For nine years, Maurice Dufresne, together with his team of mechanics, devotes himself to the renovation of the buildings. Amongst others he puts his hands on the hydraulic machinery of the old mill, which he successfully gets to function again after twenty-seven years of abandon. With his skilful hands he restores the wooden pinion gears and the essential elements of the water turbine named < Fontaine >, centrepiece of the museum with its waterwheel. Once the old paper mill was renovated, he puts his precious treasures in there, which, after having undergone serious restoration works, practically return to their original state! Some motor-driven machines are again in working condition. Each museum piece having its own little history, Maurice Dufresne takes care to record the circumstances in which they were found and decides where it is to be placed in the museum.

The King of Recycling

Headstrong, persistant, intractable, he clings to his dream every day, convinced that it is necessary to preserve and restore these discarded, replaced by technically more advanced items. This idea never left him and has been the guiding thread throughout his life. Due to his undying passion, the scrap dealer of Villeperdue has achieved to create this amazing museum of collected pieces, a true industrial heritage from 1850 to the 1950’s. During all these years, Maurice Dufresne never stopped to commute between the < Moulin de Marnay > and his recycling enterprise in Villeperdue. Maurice Dufresne left us in 2008, leaving behind him this museum unique in the world. Son of farmers and proud to be so, he undeniably became < the King of Recycling > !

A Mill in the middle of Castles

Museum Maurice Dufresne is located on the grounds of < Moulin de Marnay >, a domain of more than six acres situated on an island embanking the river l’Indre, near Azay-le-Rideau. Nested in the heart of the Loire Chateaux, it is neighbouring closely to Château de l’Islette, sheltering the love affair of Camille Claudel and Rodin, and its < big brother > the Château d’Azay-le-Rideau, jewel of the Renaissance, built under King Francis I.

The Mill in the 17^th century

In the 17th century, the site of Marnay has a mill for milling wheat and a tanning mill (oak bark reduced to powder to tan leather skin). Around 1820, three papermakers join together to found one big paper factory. Large buildings are thus constructed and arranged and the paper factory flourishes. In 1856, the Papeterie Lentaigne et Cie obtains the authorization to install two steam engines. With its six hundred workers the establishment then becomes classified as < industrial site >.

The Mill in the 19th and 20th century

In 1877, the papermakers renovate the hydraulic system and they install a water turbine named < Fontaine > equipped with a waterwheel with which they can operate numerous machines. The paper factory employs around a 1000 persons just until it suffers from the big economic crisis in 1929 and it closes down permanently in 1939. In 1948, it is bought by the family Pirondeau who transforms it into a canning factory. All the farmers of the region come to conserve their fruits and vegetables there. In 1962, the company ceases its activity, having in turn experienced severe financial problems…

And the Mill becomes Museum….

It’s the year 1983 when Maurice Dufresne acquires the mill to install his museum there. The former paper factory is no more than a ruin of which only the walls and some out of order machinery are still barely holding up. He creates a company with his wife and their three children and during the next ten years gigantic renovations are  being executed and finalised. Today this impressive machinery is again functioning and it is operating during the opening hours of the museum.

www.dufresne.pro

From Monday to Friday : 8h-12h 14h-18h

Saturday: 9h-12h 14h30-18h

Tel.: +33 (0)2 47 26 08 12