Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Verviers

VERVIERS, a town of Belgium, in the province of Liege, is situated on the Vesdre, 151/2 miles by rail east by south from Liége and 19 miles south-west from Aix-la-Chapelle. It is divided into an upper and a lower town, but has no striking architectural features. The staple commodity is cloth, which is manufactured here and in the immediate environs to the value of £3,200,000 annually. Other manufactures are soap, chemicals, confectionery, and machinery; dyeing, tanning, and iron and copper founding are also carried on. The town is a modern one; its manufacturing prosperity, the beginning of which dates from the 18th century, is partly attributed to the waters of the Vesdre, which are said to be peculiarly well adapted to the purposes of the dyer. The population in 1876 was 37,828.