The first mention of a locality called “kelms” is to be found in an administrative document of the city of Aachen, dated on the 19th of March, 1280. “Kelme” is a dialect word meaning “calamine”, and at the origin of the name Kelmis. The French designation for calamine is the same as in English, hence the French name of the town: “La Calamine”. The villa of the parc was built around 1843 to accommodate the director of the “Agence de Moresnet”, the private company “Vieille Montagne”. It was the place of residency of director Charles Timmerhans from 1894 to 1939.