The city of St. Charles has been looking for a sister in France for nearly as long as it has had one in Germany: 30 years. Now, as St. Charles officially signs its sister city agreement with Montbéliard, France, on Friday, the city has its German sister to thank.
After long-ago efforts to find a French partner fizzled, contacts in St. Charles’ German sister city of Ludwigsburg, Germany, helped bring the two together. Ludwigsburg and Montbéliard—roughly a three-plus-hour drive apart—became twinned in 1950. The result is a unique three-city connection that will be on full display during Friday’s signing, when delegations from France and Germany join St. Charles leaders for a day of ceremonies, culminating with the opening of Oktoberfest.
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“This trilateral agreement is a little unusual,” says Mary Johnson, chair of the St. Charles Sister Cities Task Force and president of its German chapter. “The fact that Ludwigsburg and Montbéliard are so close together geographically, it just made sense.”
The Background
It took St. Charles a while to get here. The search for a French city dates to the 1990s, when volunteers began exploring potential partners that shared some of St. Charles’ characteristics: river city, close to wine country, and community size, among other attributes. Despite years of work, the search was fruitless and eventually stalled, and Johnson said the group dissolved around 2007.
A decade later, St. Charles found help from its friends in Ludwigsburg. Representatives from the German city of more than 90,000 reached out to their counterparts in Montbéliard, population roughly 25,000. The idea had traction, and in 2022, a delegation from Montbéliard made its maiden journey to St. Charles. “They were already speaking in affirming tones,” Johnson recalls. “Instead of ‘if,’ it was ‘when.’”
That September, Johnson and St. Charles Mayor Dan Borgmeyer traveled to Montbéliard, where officials signed a letter of intent to eventually make the cities twins. Although it took four years to get to this point, the finish line arrived earlier this month. The agreement was signed in Montbéliard on September 3 and will be countersigned in St. Charles on Friday—the final necessary step to the process. Agreements must be physically signed in each city, Johnson says.
Looking Ahead
So what’s next? A few things are being worked out. Johnson said at least one pen pal project is already underway between students in St. Charles and those in Montbéliard. Another is being explored. Johnson expects student exchanges to follow and said there seems to be interest from both communities to learn more about each other’s education systems.
The results of the Ludwigsburg relationship will also serve as inspiration moving forward. In addition to student exchanges, St. Charles brewers have traveled to Germany to work alongside their German counterparts. The two cities are also planning an exchange to bring German bakers to St. Charles next year. In addition to Ludwigsburg, St. Charles is also twinned with Inishowen, Ireland.
“The friendships that we have developed over the years, it’s pretty incredible,” Johnson says.
