Atkarsk

Atkarsk is a city (since 1780) in Russia, the administrative center of Atkar district of Saratov region.

The population is 27.8 thousand people (2005), the area of the city is 10.54 km2.

The city is located on the Volga hill, at the confluence of the Atkara River into the Medveditsa River (the left tributary of the Don), 92 km north-west of Saratov. The river divides the city in half.

In Atkarsk there is a museum of local history, interesting from the architectural point of view of buildings of the late XIX - early XX century: the former building of the city Duma and government, now the city administration, library, real school, women's gymnasium, noble assembly, post office, railway station.

The House of Culture is an architectural monument of the Constructivist era. On the outskirts of Atkarsk there is a well-known nursery of decorative cultures and arboretum (blue spruce, Amur velvet, Babylonian willow).

In 1358, on the place where the city is now located, the ulus of the Tatar Khan Yetkary was founded in dense forests. The river was named after him. At that time, this place was a profitable military-strategic point. Natural conditions favored agriculture, livestock, fishing and hunting. When, after the conquest of Kazan and Astrakhan, the Moscow state began the construction of guard settlements against the raids of nomads, for one of these settlements in 1702, a "cozy and strong place" was chosen - on the right side of the Medveditsa River, at the mouth of the Etkar River. By the name of the river and called the settlement. They populated it with soldiers who carried out guard duty, as well as tilled the land, sowed and harvested bread. At that time, the Sloboda was subordinate to the Petrovsky voivode. After the suppression of the uprising under the leadership of E. Pugachev in 1780, Etkar was transformed into a district city of the Saratov province of Atkarsk.

At the beginning of the XIX century, about 1200 people lived in the city. After the reform of 1861, fisheries for processing agricultural raw materials appeared in the city and county. The bread trade came alive. However, the city continued to remain remote and completely undeveloped, with inconspicuous wooden buildings, mostly covered with straw and reed, unpaved streets, and bore the nickname of Straw Town. A fire in 1870 destroyed two-thirds of its buildings.

The bread trade, the main wealth of the region, turned the Saratov province into one of the largest centers of the Russian economy. Crucial for the development of Atkarsk was its position between two major centers of grain trade - the cities of Saratov and Balashov. Atkarsk remained in the shadow of more powerful neighbors.

An important event for Atkarsk was the opening of railway communication along the Tambov-Saratov line (1871-1872) and the construction of a railway branch to Volsk (1893).

Since that time, the city was inhabited by railway workers, artisans, merchants, in 1907 it was home to 13 thousand people. Around this period, two steam and two water mills, a steam locomotive depot, four brick factories, a soap factory, two lace mills and other handicraft enterprises were built. With the construction of railways, the economic and geographical position of the city improved, and it became a major point of grain trade. All the villages of the district brought bread to Atkarsk, where it was bought up by merchants, and then sent by rail to Moscow, St. Petersburg and abroad. Every year from 2 to 3 million poods of bread were exported from here.

Nowadays Atkarsk is known for the production of equipment for the mining and processing industry, the supply of agricultural products, the city has a furniture factory and processing enterprises.

Education: 25 secondary general education schools, 11 preschool institutions and the Center for Children's Creativity.

Famous natives of the city: mathematician Y. B. Hermeyer, histologist scientist A. N. Studitsky, A. Perfilova (singer Valeria).