“ Montbéliard is the seat of a sub-prefect and has a tribunal of first instance, a board of trade-arbitrators, a communal college, a practical school of industry, a chamber of arts and manufactures and a museum of natural history. Since 1870 a considerable impetus has been given to its prosperity by the Alsatian immigrants. Its industries include watch and clock making and dependent trades, cotton spinning and weaving, the manufacture of hosiery, textile machinery, tools, nails and wire, and brewing. There is commerce in wine, cheese, wood and Montbéliard cattle. ”

“ It is an important point in the frontier defences of France since 1871. Forts on outlying hills connect it with Belfort on the one side and (through Blamont and the Lomont fortifications) with Besançon on the other. The old castle of the counts of Montbéliard is now used as barracks; its most conspicuous features, the Tour Bossue and the Tour Neuve, date respectively from 1425 and 1594. Most of the inhabitants are Protestant, and the church of St Martin, built early in the 17th century, now serves as a Protestant place of worship. ”