Püssi is a town in Lüganuse parish, Ida-Virum county, in
northeastern Estonia, with a population of 917 people as of 2018. It
is located close to the road between Tallinn and St. Petersburg.
After the end of 45 years of Soviet rule in Estonia, Püssi
experienced a sharp economic decline and a massive exodus of the
population. In 1989, the population of Pussy was 2,400 people, and
20 years later, in 2009, it was only 1809. The population continued
to decline and by 2012 amounted to 1,783 people. In October 2013,
Püssi, together with the parish of Maidla, were merged into the
parish of Lüganuse, and therefore ceased to exist as sovereign
municipalities.
By 2002, Püssi had accumulated 20 million kroons of debt, the
equivalent of 1.3 million euros; and real estate prices became so
low that apartments were valued at about zero. Since then, the
city's economy has begun to recover. Pussi plans to build an
industrial park. The chairman of the city council said in an
interview to the Baltic Times that the value of real estate in the
city is only 1% of the value of the capital city of Tallinn.
St. Petersburg is historically the center of chipboard production.
At the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the city's largest
employer was chipboard manufacturer Repo Vabrikud, employing 1,400
people, more than half of the city. Although Repo Vabrikud has cut
employment significantly, other particle board manufacturers have
moved. The Sorbes Group has a production center for its "Repo by
Sorbes" particleboard line in Pussy. In 2011, Estonian furniture
maker Viisnurk took over a dormant softboard factory in the city
with the intention of producing the softboard for international
clients in Asia and Europe.
In December 2010, Siemens
announced that Püssi had been selected as the location of one of two
converter stations for its EstLink 2 high voltage transmission line
between Estonia and Finland.
House
of Culture Püssi
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The Püssi Cultural Center is a cultural center in Pussi,
Ida-Virumaa, at Kooli street 5, the head of the cultural center is
Tiit Aruve.
In written sources, Pussi was first mentioned in 1472 (Pussz, the
manor). Puisse was mentioned in 1558, and Pühs in 1796.
The
beginning of the formation of Pussi as a settlement was laid by the
construction of the Revel—Petersburg railway in 1869. In less than two
years, the 4th-class Izengof railway station was completed (then Pussi,
destroyed in 1944 during the war).
The village began to develop
next to the railway in the 1920s. The first place to work in Pussi was
the sawmill of the former Izengof manor (Pussi), located on the banks of
the Purtse River (in connection with which the Pussi manor was also
called Neu-Isenhof (German Neu-Isenhof, Uus-Purtse, est. Uus-Purtse).
Once upon a time, furniture manufacturing enterprises, a coffee
processing plant, a tannery, and a power plant operated on the territory
of the city. The last one was built at the end of 1930. Merchant Anton
Nurk traded various goods in Pussi from salt to iron, as well as modern
machine tools.
In 1926, the construction of the Pussey School
(currently the Luganuz Secondary School) was completed on the remains of
the main building of the Pussey manor. The building is listed in the
State Register of Cultural Monuments of Estonia.
Pussi received
the status of a settlement in 1954, and the status of a city in 1993.
It was an urban municipality until 2013. In 2013, it became part of
the Luganuse parish. The decision on this was made unanimously by all
members of the city assembly.
It is located in the north-east of Estonia, on the east bank of the Purtse River and the west bank of the Kohtla River (Roondu), near the Tallinn—Narva railway, 3 kilometers east of Kiviili. The distance to the parish center — the village of Lyuganuse is 1 kilometer, to the county center — the city of Yyhvi — 19 kilometers. The height above sea level is 46 meters.
The 2011 Census
According to the 2011 census, the number of
residents of the city was 1,083, of whom 581 (53.6%) were Estonians, the
rest were Russian speakers.
The Population Census of 2021
According to the 2021 census, 868 people lived in the city, of which 482
(55.53%) were Estonians, 316 (36.41%) were Russians, 17 (1.96%) were
Ukrainians, 16 (1.84%) were Belarusians, 12 (1.38%) were Finns, 3 people
(0.35%) are Tatars, 3 people (0.35%) are Latvians, 3 people (0.35%) are
Poles, 15 people (1.73%) are others, 3 people (0.35%) are unknown.
The share of the population over 65 years of age in the city's
population structure was 33.18% of the population (288 people), and the
share of the population under 14 years of age was 9.1% (79 people).
Of the 868 inhabitants of Pussi, 73.39% (637 people) are Estonian
citizens, 17.63% (153 people) are Russian citizens, 6.8% (59 people) are
stateless persons, and 2.19% (19 people) are citizens of other
countries. Russian Russians make up 36.41% of the city's population, or
0.1% of all Estonian Russians live in Jyhvi, according to the Estonian
Census of 2021. According to the Estonian Population Census of 2021,
0.19% (153 people) of all Russian citizens living in Estonia live in the
city.
0.09% (59 people) of all stateless people in Estonia live
in the city.
Of the 868 inhabitants of Pussi, 471 people (54.26%
of the population of Pussi) had Estonian as their mother tongue, 379
people (43.66% of the population of Pussi) had Russian, 4 people (0.46%)
had Ukrainian, 4 people (0.46%) had Belarusian, 4 people (0.46%) —
Latvian, for 3 people (0.35%) — Finnish was the native language, for 4
people (0.46%) another language was the native language, the native
language of 3 people (0.35%) was unknown.
The largest employer in the city is the company for the production of wood slabs AS Repo Vabrikud. In March 2020, due to the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the plant announced closure (temporary or final — unknown). According to the Tax Register, as of September 30, 2020, the number of its employees was 184 people.
The city has a cultural center, a library, a kindergarten, a youth
center, a sports club and a day center.
The children of Pussi go
to the Luganuz Basic School, the Kiviili secondary school and the
Kiviili Russian Gymnasium.
There is a family doctor in the city,
whose service region includes the entire Luganuse parish. A dentist
works, there is a pharmacy.