Meximieux is a commune

Communes of France

The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the Ain

Ain

Ain is a department named after the Ain River on the eastern edge of France. Being part of the region Rhône-Alpes and bordered by the rivers Saône and Rhône, the department of Ain enjoys a privileged geographic situation...

 department in eastern France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

Geography

Located 35 km north east of Lyon

Lyon

Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

 and 10 km from Ambérieu-en-Bugey

Ambérieu-en-Bugey

Ambérieu-en-Bugey is a commune in the department of Ain in eastern France.It is the largest town in the arrondissement of Belley and the seat of the Ambérieu-en-Bugey canton, as well as the capital of the historic region of Bugey.-Geography:...

, the town is where the Dombes

Dombes

The Dombes is an area in South-Eastern France, once an independent municipality, formerly part of the province of Burgundy, and now a district comprised in the département of Ain, and bounded W. by the Saône River, by the Rhône, E. by the Ain and N...

 plateau meets the plain of the Ain River

Ain River

The Ain is a river in eastern France. In the Franco-Provençal language it is known as the En.-Global position:The river rises at an altitude of some 700 metres, near the village of La Favière, in the Jurassic limestone of the southern end of the Jura mountains and flows into the Rhône about 40...

. Historically, Meximieux was part of the former province of Bresse

Bresse

Bresse is a former French province. It is located in the regions of Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne, and Franche-Comté of eastern France. The geographical term Bresse has two meanings: Bresse bourguignonne , which is situated in the east of the department of Saône-et-Loire, and Bresse, which is located...

. Over the centuries its importance has developed from its location on the main route between Lyon and Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

, and it now lies on the Autoroute 42 from Lyon.

History

Records of Meximieux date back to Roman times when it home to a small farming settlement called Maximiacus.

Population

Its inhabitants are known as Meximiards.

International relations

Meximieux has been twinned with German town of Denkendorf

Denkendorf

Denkendorf may refer to two municipalities in Germany:*Denkendorf, Baden-Württemberg*Denkendorf, Bavaria...

, in Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...

 since 1986.

Personalities

The town was the birthplace of Claude Favre de Vaugelas

Claude Favre de Vaugelas

Claude Favre de Vaugelas was a French grammarian and man of letters. Although a life-long courtier, Claude Favre was widely known by the name of one of the landed estates he owned as seigneur of Vaugelas and baron of Peroges.Born at Meximieux, in the Ain département of France, he became...

, a 17th-century grammarian and man of letters.

Resistance

Meximieux is one of the 17 French cities to be awarded with the medal of resistance (Médaille de la Résistance

Médaille de la Résistance

The French Médaille de la Résistance was awarded by General Charles de Gaulle "to recognise the remarkable acts of faith and of courage that, in France, in the empire and abroad, have contributed to the resistance of the French people against the enemy and against its accomplices since June 18,...

). The French resistants of Meximieux fought with the allies in an outstanding collaboration with the U.S. army. This resulted in the victory against a German counter offensive on Meximieux the 1 and 2 September 1944.
U.S. Army General, Michael S. Davison, became an honorary citizen of Meximieux.