Next to it, a last reminder of the first flax spinning mill of Kortrijk has been changed into lofts and offices, in an almost unrecognisable way. In 1865-1866 Boutry-Van Isselsteyn & Cie, textile dealers from Lille (France), established a modern flax spinning mill in Kortrijk, which was also the first one South-West-Flanders. It was during this period, after the sharp rise in prices of cotton as a result of the American Civil War (1861-1865) that flax spinning and weaving companies again could compete with the large-scale cotton factories. In 1884, the company was taken over by the director Léonard De Kien. Together with his son George and Maurice Ide, he expanded the buildings strongly. At the beginning of the last century there was a lot of foul with the working conditions in the company De Kien. The complex could be a memorial of the Kortrijk workers' movement. In 1909, trade union secretary Joseph Coole published a critical article, "De Vlasslaven van De Kien" (the flax slaves of De Kien), which promptly brought him to trial by De Kien. He was sentenced to six months in prison. In his article he complained that the patron - who was also chairman Kortrijk Chamber of Commerce - foiled with the payment of the number of pieces produced. The result was a week-long strike, the first big strike in the region ...