Licensed from Columbia University Press
Passy is an exclusive area of Paris, France, located in the XVIe arrondissement, on the Right Bank. It is traditionally home to many of the city's wealthiest residents.
Passy was formerly a commune. It was annexed to Paris in 1860.
Americans in Passy
It is best known to Americans for being the home of patriot Benjamin Franklin for the nine years that he lived in France during the American Revolutionary War. At the time, Passy was a separate village.
Franklin established a small press in his Passy home, to print pamphlets and other material as part of his job to maintain French support of the revolution. He called it the Passy Press. Among other things, he printed passports, even developing a special typeface known as "le Franklin." He also printed a 1782 treatise titled "A Project for Perpetual Peace," that laid out a vision for maintaining a permanent peace in Europe. It proposed for a central governing council, with representatives of all the nations of Europe, that would rule over international disputes.
When Franklin returned to America, the new ambassador to France, Thomas Jefferson, wrote, "When he left Passy, it seemed as if the village had lost its patriarch."
American railroad tycoon William Kissam Vanderbilt also kept a home in Passy.
Places in Passy
There is now a rue Benjamin Franklin and a square de Yorktown near the Trocadéro.
The most lively street in the area is Rue de Passy, which goes from La Muette to the Place de Costa Rica just behind the Trocadéro. It has many boutiques and chain stores along its length.
The Cimetière de Passy, located at 2, rue du Commandant Schœlsing, is the burial place for many well-known persons including American silent film star Pearl White, the painters Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot, and composer Claude Debussy.
Honoré de Balzac lived and wrote in Passy, and his house is now a museum (Maison de Balzac).
See also
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Last updated on Thursday September 25, 2008 at 03:30:16 PDT (GMT -0700)
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