of the municipality of
Aubange, is situated in Athus Athus has always been a
Germanic place though its first origins are during the
Roman period. It was a little village until the 17th century when the
steelworks began to develop in the whole region. It was during the 19th century that Athus started to become relatively famous in the neighborhood and especially in 1872 when the first steel factory was founded. At the same time, in 1878, Athus also became an independent
commune until the reorganization of the 1970s, when it was merged with the surrounding communes to create the enlarged municipality of
Aubange on 1 January 1977. But 1977 was a tragic year for the city because the factory closed its doors due to the iron and steel crisis of that moment. At that time, the city was at the top of its fame and of its number of inhabitants which reached approximately 7,500. That event led to a social and economic crisis for the city and the whole region which is not yet totally solved today. But Athus is still the biggest locality of the municipality of Aubange, and the most important because many services are still there; (the
townhall, the main schools, the main bus lines stops and train station, the police station or the firehouse are examples.)
Steelworks of Athus, as seen from Road N830 The steelworks in Athus was founded in 1872 as the company ''Société des Hauts Fourneaux d'Athus
, a blast furnace was constructed and in 1880 a steelworks. In 1882, the company became Société des Hauts Fourneaux et Aciéries d'Athus
; by 1914 there were four blast furnaces, and by 1928 five. In 1927 merger with the S.A. des Aciéries d'Angleur et des Charbonnages belges de Tilleu
formed S.A. d´Angleur-Athus. In 1945 the company was taken over by the Société anonyme John Cockerill. Production continued until the steel works at Athus was merged with the Minière et Métallurgique de Rodange'' (MMR) in 1973; restructuring as a result of the
Steel crisis of the
1973–75 recession led to the complete closure of the plant in Athus in the late 1970s. The site of the plant is now a rail-served
container terminal which deals with containers from the ports of the
North Sea to the interior of
France,
Luxembourg,
Germany,
Switzerland and Belgium. == Demographics ==