Key dates:

1994-1995 - Preliminary discussions about creating Sister City program with Noisy-le-Roi, France, spearheaded by Sue Marcos, president of the Greater Albion Chamber of Commerce, who had lived in or near Noisy for 23 years, and Alain Frene, member of Noisy's City Council, who had lived in Birmingham, MI as an exchange student and visited Albion many times.

1997 - Signature of a memorandum of understanding creating the Sister City relationship between Albion, Michigan, USA and Noisy-le-Roi, France

2000 - 2001 - Officialization of the Sister City relationship. In September 2000, the Mayor of Noisy-le-Roi, Michel Colin, and a delegation from the Noisy Sister City Committee made an official visit to Albion. In June 2002, a delegation from Albion, led by Mayor William Wheaton, traveled to Noisy-le-Roi for official ceremonies.

Since 1995, several hundred people have been involved in group and individual exchanges between the two cities, including many middle school youth.

History of Sister City Relationships

Sister city, county and state affiliations between the United States and other nations began shortly after World War II and developed into a national initiative when President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed the "People-to-People" program at a White House conference in 1956. President Eisenhower's intention was to involve individuals and organized groups at all levels of society in citizen diplomacy, with the hope that personal relationships, fostered through sister city, county and state affiliations, would lessen the chance of future world conflicts.

Excerpts from (Mayor of Noisy-le-Rois) Michel Colin's 1999 letter to Bill Wheaton

" Some three years ago, in 1997, the cities of Noisy-le-Roi (Yvelines, France) and Albion (Michigan USA) mutually agreed ñ through the signing of a temporary memorandum of understanding - to officialize the sister city relationship in the year 2000.

In a spirit of openness and conviviality, the two cities made a commitment to set up activities to promote mutual exchanges so that inhabitants of the sister cities better understand each otherís social, cultural, economical, and sports achievements, and to facilitate contacts which foster better mutual understanding.

Since then, Noisy and Albion have organized and shared various events during which inhabitants from both cities have visited each other. Every time there was a mutual feeling of appreciation and friendship, thanks to the work of the local sister city committees in Noisy and Albion. The time has now come to make things official."

Excerpts from (Albion's Sister City Committee Chairman)
Marjorie Ulbrich's speech in Noisy - June 2001

Je tiens a vous dire combien nous sommes heureux d'etre ici a Noisy-le-Roi. Dans les ateliers de travail d'aujourd'hui, nous esperons faire beaucoup de progres vers le rapprochement de nos deux communes.

Le but de ces ateliers de travail est de dialoguer de facon concrete et constructive pour trouver un chemin de rapprochement entre nos deux cultures, ceci dans l'espoir de resoudre des problemes communs aux deux villes.

Il n'y a pas, pour ameliorer nos villes, de meilleur moyen que d'echanger des idees, de les examiner et d'utiliser de differentes methodes pour resoudre les problemes fondamentaux. C'est une occasion unique pour apprendre ensemble et faire avancer l'esprit humain.

Ceci est le vrai sens de l'ideale du jumelage - s'entraider, partager des idees, identifier des problemes et rechercher ensemble des solutions.