de la Loire. Glassware For many years glass production was located near the forests that provided the charcoal needed for combustion. In the 18th century glass works were moved closer to coal mines. In 1749 the glass maker Robichon from Franche-Comté moved to Givors where it used sand from the Rhone as material and coal from Rive-de-Gier as fuel. In 1788 there were two glass factories in Rive-de-Gier making bottles and glasses. At the beginning of the 19th century the Robichon company moved to Rive-de-Gier by buying other glass works, and introduced the production of flat glass. By 1830 the thirty glass works in the city employed about 1,200 people. The Richarme glass works founded in 1826 in the Egarande neighborhood specialized in the manufacture of bottles. In 1877 Petrus Richarme rebuilt the factory with an area of and introduced into France the gas and continuous melting furnaces of Siemens. The company operated until 1958 before being demolished. The last glass factory, located in the district of Couzon, Duralex, ceased operations in 2006. It had been founded in 1906 by Emile Hémain before merging with Souchon-Neuvesel in 1958 to join the Boussois-Souchon-Neuvesel (BSN) group in 1966. Metallurgy In 1837 H. Pétin and J. M. Gaudet, mechanics and forgers, set up shops at Saint-Chamond and Rive-de-Gier. On 14 November 1854 Pétin et Gaudet merged and combined with four other companies to create the Compagnie des Hauts-fourneaux, forges et aciéries de la Marine et des chemins de fer. The company, which engaged in extracting, processing and selling iron and coal was initially based in Rive-de-Gier. On 9 November 1871 it moved its headquarters to Saint-Chamond and became a limited company. The forges of Petin-Gaudet, Lucien Arbel, Marrel and others were the real economic engines of the city. As a symbol of this time, the chimney of the old Marrel Forges on the site of Châteauneuf, Loire, built in 1866 and one of the highest in Europe at , was classified a historical monument in 1992. Recent years Rive-de-Gier has suffered the brunt of the massive disindustrialization of the 1980s and 1990s, with the massive loss of industrial jobs, the closure of the SSFR, and the July 2008 closure of the last operating glassworks in the Gier valley. Population Economy In 2017, the municipality had 15,184 inhabitants. A significant number of inhabitants work in other communities such as Lyon. Every Tuesday and Friday