Place Jules Nadi

Today, the square is home to the town hall, the bandstand (restored in 2018) and the Cordeliers concert hall.

The former convent of the Cordeliers (Franciscans), which occupied the square until 1790, left its name to this hall built on its former site.
The kiosk and military circle bear witness to Romans' days as a garrison town.

A little history....
Who was Jules Nadi?
Jules Camille Victor Pomaret, born in Valence on May 19, 1872, called himself Jules Nadi, a name he formed by reversing the syllables of his wife Julie Dina Garnier's middle name.

After completing his studies, he worked as a town clerk in Valence, before being appointed head of the octroi (goods tax) in Romans. He went on to found the literary magazine "L'Oeuvre" and the Fédération autonome socialiste Drôme et Ardèche.

In 1914, he was elected deputy for Drôme, and in 1919, mayor of Romans. He did not hesitate to raise new taxes to transform the town: a covered market, a tuberculosis dispensary, municipal baths and showers, a garden city that bears his name, a public office for low-cost housing, and "La goutte de lait" (the drop of milk), which reduced the infant mortality rate from 18% to 3%!

He died in Paris on November 7, 1928, and his body was brought back to Romans, where he was buried on November 12 in a mausoleum erected by the town and still visible today, just inside the main entrance to the cemetery.
(history by J.Y. Baxter)