The story
Named after Saint Judoc, Saint-Josse was originally a farming village on the outskirts of Brussels. In the centuries before the dismantling of the ramparts encircling Brussels, noblemen built country estates there, the most notable of which was the Castle of the Dukes of Brabant, built by Philip the Good in 1456. The area surrounding that castle was planted with wine groves, which explains the presence of the bushel of grapes in the municipality's coat of arms.
Following the demolition of the ramparts, Saint-Josse was one of the first areas outside Brussels to urbanise. The rich built houses around the new boulevards and higher parts of the municipality, while industries and workers' cottages were built in the lower-lying part close to the river Senne. In 1855, 58% of Saint-Josse's land area was annexed by the City of Brussels to make way for the Square Ambiorix/Ambiorixsquare, the Square Marguerite/Margaretasquare, the Square Marie-Louise/Maria-Louizasquare and the Avenue Palmerston/Palmerstonlaan of the newly created Leopold Quarter (now the European Quarter).
According to an inventory of architecture commissioned by the Brussels Region, Saint-Josse has on average the oldest buildings of all 19 Brussels municipalities.
From Wikipedia’s article on Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4