jubilee of 1850, four of which are still present on the public road. One of Cholet's textile specialties is its famous red handkerchief, which has earned it the title of Handkerchief Capital. The history of this handkerchief goes back to the wars of Vendée: indeed, on October 17, 1793, the great battle of Cholet opposed, on one side, the Vendeans, with d'Elbée, Bonchamps, La Rochejaquelein and Stofflet. On the other hand stand the Republicans led by Beaupuy, Travot, Marceau, Kléber and the Mayençais. Henri de la Rochejaquelein wears on his hat, on his chest and at his side, three white handkerchiefs of Cholet, in order to better make himself recognized by his men, handkerchiefs which designate him just as surely with the republican balls. Having used one of these white handkerchiefs to bandage a wound, it turns red with its blood. Since then, the traditional handkerchief of Cholet created by a local industrialist, Léon Maret, is red with white stripes. He is the ambassador of Cholet. According to the Jan. 10th 1885 edition of Corbett's Herald, a temporary theatre had collapsed on an audience of 1000, causing 150 fatalities. Demographics The population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Cholet proper, in its geography at the given years. The commune of Cholet absorbed the former commune of Le Puy-Saint-Bonnet in 1973. Sights A public garden occupies the site of the old castle; the public buildings and churches, for example the Church of the Sacred Heart (église du Sacré-Cœur, 1939), are modern. The Church of the Sacred Heart is in the Byzantine Romanesque style and was the work of the local architect Maurice Laurentin. The Church of Our Lady (église Notre-Dame) is listed as a "monument historique" (historic monument). In July 1813, the Duke of Angoulême laid the first stone of the current Our Lady church. From 1881 to 1900, the nave and the bell towers were completed, the spiers of which rise 65 meters above Place Travot. The Church of St Peter (Saint-Pierre), St Peter street, exists from the 6th and 7th centuries in what is then the borough of Saint-Pierre. It was vandalized and destroyed by the Normans in the 15th century. After the year 1000, the monks of Marmoutier built a Romanesque-style church which was modified into Gothic at the end of the 15th century. Rebuilt from 1752, it kept a covered wooden