Blanche (Paris Métro) 3.09

Blanche is a station on Paris Métro Line 2, on the border of the 9th and the 18th arrondissement. The station is located under the Boulevard de Clichy in Montmartre.The station was opened on 21 October 1902 as part of the extension of line 2 from Étoile to Anvers. The station was not ready for the opening of the line two weeks earlier, so trains passed without stopping. The station is named after the Place Blanche (French for "white place"), which derives its name from the gypsum that spilled in the 17th century from the wagons leaving the Montmartre quarries, where it was mined to produce plaster of Paris. The Place was named after the Barrière Blanche, a gate built for the collection of taxation as part of the Wall of the Farmers-General; the gate was built between 1784 and 1788 and demolished in the 19th century.The station serves the Moulin Rouge.