The town was named afterSaint Audoin, a famous 7th century AD Frankish bishop. On 1 January 1860, the city of Paris was enlarged by annexing neighbouring communes. On that occasion, a part of the commune of Saint-Ouen was annexed to the city of Paris. At the same time, the commune of La Chapelle-Saint-Denis was disbanded and divided between the city of Paris, Saint-Ouen, Saint-Denis, andAubervilliers. Saint-Ouen received a small part of the territory of La Chapelle-Saint-Denis. The commune ofMontmartre was also disbanded; the city of Paris annexed most of Montmartre, but Saint-Ouen did receive a small northern part of the territory of that commune. TheHôtel de Ville was completed in 1868.[4]
Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine is home to Paris'flea market, the highest concentration ofantique dealers and second-handfurniture dealers in the world.[7] The flea market (marché aux puces) is held every Saturday, Sunday, and Monday; because of this high frequency, compared to other flea markets, it has tended to consist only of professionals who rent their spot for a minimum term of three years. In 2014 the flea market site was acquired by Jean-Cyrille Boutmy fromGerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster.[8]
Supméca, an accredited mechanical engineering school is located in the Vieux Saint Ouen quarter. It was created in 1948, is member of theuniversity of Paris-Seine and now part of theISAE Group, which has a total of 6000 students.One literary and humanitiesClasse préparatoire aux grandes écoles is offered on the Lycée Blanqui high school's premises.[11] The business schoolAudencia opened a campus in Saint-Ouen in 2023.[12]
