Shadrinsk is the second-largest city in the Kurgan Region and
ranks first in terms of the preservation of its historic urban
fabric. Along with Irbit and Troitsk, it is one of the three major
merchant cities of the Urals. Shadrinsk impresses visitors with the
sheer number and variety of its pre-revolutionary stone buildings,
ranging from typical mansions to the municipal theater and a large
factory. The city is also home to a late-18th-century cathedral—a
magnificent example of Ural Baroque architecture.
Shadrinsk
is situated on the left bank of the Iset River, 230 km from
Yekaterinburg. The city is surrounded by the forest-steppe landscape
characteristic of the Kurgan Region.
The first Russian
settlers arrived in the area during the 17th century. Shadrinsk’s
founding date is considered to be 1662, when a man named Yushka
Solovey petitioned Tobolsk for permission to build a settlement
(*sloboda*) and a fortified outpost (*ostrog*) at the "Shadrinskaya
Zaimka" (Shadrin’s homestead). Thus, the name predated the city
itself, originating from the first landowner—though little is
actually known about him. The Shadrinsk settlement rapidly grew into
a major community; in 1712, it was briefly renamed Arkhangelsky
Shadrinsky Gorodok (or Maloarkhangelsk). Following a devastating
fire in 1733 and a series of other upheavals—including the Pugachev
Rebellion—Shadrinsk was granted the status of a district town in
1781.
Shadrinsk’s heyday occurred in the 19th century, driven
by the city's advantageous location between the Urals, Western
Siberia, and Kazakhstan. Regular trade fairs attracted merchants who
built mansions, shops, and warehouses, as well as manufacturing
plants. The largest of these—a distillery—remains in operation to
this day. Other local industries included a spinning mill, porcelain
manufacturing, and various other enterprises. By the early 20th
century, Shadrinsk was a significant town, boasting a *gymnasium*
(secondary school), a teachers' seminary, a cinema, and even its own
theater. All of these have survived to varying degrees; however,
Shadrinsk clearly failed to keep pace with the rapid growth of other
Ural cities. Consequently, it now gives the impression of a remote
yet solid and by no means impoverished provincial town. The city’s
main industrial enterprise—the Shadrinsk Auto-Aggregate Plant
(SHAAZ, which manufactures automotive radiators)—is conveniently
located on the outskirts, leaving the pre-revolutionary urban fabric
intact. Other industries exist as well, producing electrodes, metal
structures, industrial sacks, and items such as paving slabs and
curbstones.
Layout
Shadrinsk follows a standard
rectangular grid plan, with the rectangle’s long side stretching
along the river. The main thoroughfares—Lenina and Mikhailovskogo
streets—run parallel to each other and feature the highest
concentration of historic buildings. The most cohesive blocks are
found within the area bounded by Gagarina and Volodarskogo streets
to the west and east, Sverdlova Street to the north, and the river
to the south. A boulevard featuring a war memorial, located at the
intersection of Sverdlova and Komsomolskaya streets, serves as the
de facto central square.
Historic stone buildings can also be
found outside the center, though the overall character of the area
changes: private wooden houses predominate—specifically, the
distinctive Ural-style *izbas* (log houses) featuring surprisingly
uniform decorative trim on window frames and shutters. Multi-story
apartment blocks and other artifacts of the Soviet era are
relatively rare.
Mentioned in a document of 1622 as Shadrinskaya Zaimka, where “capture” is a place occupied by a farm, and the definition is from a non-calendar personal name Shadr or from a patronymic Shadrin, later - Shadrinskaya Sloboda; since 1712, after the construction of the temple in the name of the Archangel Michael - the Arkhangelsk Shadrinsky town or Maloarkhangelsk. Since 1781 - the district town of Shadrinsk.
Shadrinsk was
founded in the 17th century, when Russian explorers began to develop
the Siberian and Far Eastern lands. Under the cover of the walls of
the Shadrinsky prison, the banks of the Iset were settled by
peasants from the northern and central provinces of Russia.
The founder of the settlement is Yuri Malechkin, nicknamed Yushko
Solovey. He turned to Tobolsk with a petition, in which he asked the
governor for permission to build a prison and a settlement on
Shadrina Zaimka (1644). In the Punished Memory for the establishment
of the Shadrinskaya Sloboda, Yushka Solovyu was allowed to start
construction “in the summer of 7171 (1662) September on the 15th day
(25 September)”.
By 1686 the Shadrinskaya Sloboda became the
largest settlement in Western Siberia. In the settlement there were
137 farms of arable peasants, 10 White Cossacks, 41 dragoons lived.
In 1712, by the decree of the Tobolsk voivode, the Shadrinskaya
Sloboda was renamed into the Arkhangelsk Shadrinsky town, or
Maloarkhangelsk, of the Tobolsk district. In 1733, a fire burned
down the Shadrinsky town, and it was again considered a settlement,
which gradually began to be rebuilt. In 1737, it acquired the status
of a city again and became part of the Siberian province.
In
1738, the Isetskaya province was formed with the original seat of
the provincial chancellery in Shadrinsk. Since 1744, Shadrinsk, as
part of the Isetskaya province, became part of the Orenburg
province.
In the 18th century, the city was limited by
transverse streets - Vesyolaya (now K. Liebknekht St.) and
Tserkovnaya (now R. Luxemburg St.), longitudinal - Naberezhnaya (now
Kondyurin St.) and Petropavlovskaya (now K. Marks St.), that is in
length it had a length of about 1 km, and in width - 200-400 m.
In 1771, with the blessing of the Bishop of Tobolsk Varlaam, a
stone church was laid in the name of the Transfiguration of the
Lord. The Transfiguration Cathedral is the first stone building in
the city. The construction was supervised by the abbot of the
Dalmatovsky Dormition Monastery, Abbot Adam Arkudinsky. Art
historians attribute this temple to the "Ukrainian" Baroque, not
without the influence of Russian architecture.
During the
uprising of Yemelyan Pugachev, Shadrinsk refused to join the rebels.
In 1774, having received reinforcements from Siberia, the tsarist
troops from Shadrinsk launched an offensive and defeated the rebels.
Since 1781, Shadrinsk, by a decree establishing the Perm
governorship, receives the status of a district town. The coat of
arms of Shadrinsk - a running marten in a silver field - was
approved on July 17, 1783.
In the "Topographic description of
the Perm governorship of the city of Shadrinsk" in 1789 it was said:
"There is only one church of God in the city of wood in the name of
the Transfiguration of the Lord, Nicholas the Wonderworker - one;
state-owned houses for judicial seats - 4, and for the authorities -
2, living room yard - 1, shops - 14, cash pantry, powder magazine,
for hospitals - one house, philistine houses - 300, no factories,
shops - 110.
On November 24, 1789, in a solemn atmosphere in
Shadrinsk, the Small Public School (two-grade) was opened - the
first educational institution in the city.
In 1842-1843,
Shadrinsk became the center from which the suppression of the
peasant uprising, known among historians as the "potato riot", took
place.
Petrovskaya, Mikhailovskaya and Afanasyevskaya fairs
were held annually in Shadrinsk. They traded in bread, cereals,
meat, butter, lard, canvas. Merchants from the Urals, Nizhny
Novgorod, Kyrgyzstan, Bukhara brought fabrics, carpets, and metal
products to these fairs. In the village of Krestovsky (near
Shadrinsk), the Krestovsko-Ivanovskaya fair, well-known throughout
Russia, was held, which at one time occupied the third place in
Russia in terms of trade after Nizhny Novgorod and Irbit. In the
second half of the 18th century, about one and a half thousand
handicraftsmen worked in Shadrinsk. For the processing of local raw
materials, there were built lettuce shops, soap mills, pimokatny,
sinillin, brick factories.
From 1822 to 1840 the porcelain
factory of the merchant Fetisov worked. This was the first such
enterprise in the Urals and Siberia. By 1890, 27 industrial
enterprises operated in the city.
In 1865, a large merchant
Alfons Poklevsky-Kozell became the owner of a distillery in
Shadrinsk.
In 1870, local self-government was introduced in
the city: a representative power appeared - the Duma and an
executive body - the Office under the leadership of the mayor.
In the 1870s, there were two hospitals and a pharmacy in
Shadrinsk. A significant event in the cultural life of the city was
the opening of the zemstvo library in 1876.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the spinning and weaving
factory of the Butakov brothers (Dmitry Ivanovich and Efim
Ivanovich) and the agricultural workshop of Molodtsov appeared. In
1906 a women's gymnasium was opened, in 1907 - a real school, in
1914 - a teacher's seminary. In 1910, a clerks' club was opened,
which had a theater and cinema.
In 1913, the future classic
of Russian bibliology Nikolai Zdobnov organized the publication of
the first newspaper in the city "Iset" in Shadrinsk. By 1917,
Shadrinsk was a district town with a population of 17,000. In 1917
N.V. Zdobnov was elected chairman of the Shadrinsk City Duma and a
deputy of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly.
In January
1918, Soviet power was proclaimed in the city. At the beginning of
July 1918, the city was occupied by Czech troops, and Soviet power
was overthrown. In August 1918, ID Shadr exhibited in the building
of the clerks' club (drama theater) a model of the monument to the
Shadrintsy, who were shot by the Bolsheviks.
From July 1918
to July 1919, Shadrinskaya Narodnaya Gazeta was published in the
city.
In early August 1919, the Red troops entered the city,
and Soviet power was established in the city.
Since 1924, the
city has become the center of the Shadrinsky District of the Ural
Region. In 1925, on the basis of the Poklevsky-Kozell distillery,
the Shadrinsky distillery was created, which operated until 2006.
In 1928, the Shadrinsky Pedagogical College was opened (in 1930,
Nekrasova, Ksenia Alexandrovna studied there), in 1932 - the
Shadrinsky Financial and Economic College. In 1928, the Sovkino
cinema was built, which in 1932 was renamed the October cinema.
In 1933, an iron foundry and mechanical plant named after the
Second Five-Year Plan was created in Shadrinsk (during the war, the
Shadrinsk Printing Machine Plant was created on its basis, which
operated for more than half a century, until the early 1990s).
Since 1934, Shadrinsk has become the regional center of the
Chelyabinsk region.
In 1935, the School of Nursing was
opened, now the Shadrinsky Medical College. In 1939, on the basis of
the Shadrinsk Pedagogical College, the Shadrinsk Teachers' Institute
was created.
Since May 1941 it has the status of a city of
regional subordination.
In late 1941 - early 1942,
enterprises were created in the city on the basis of the evacuated
factories, which in the future received the names "Shadrinsky
Automotive Aggregate Plant", "Telephone Plant", "Polygraphmash",
"Volodarsky Garment Factory", "Shadrinsky Plant for the Repair of
Diesel Locomotives", Shadrinskaya Tobacco Factory.
From
October 1941 to 1943, human rights activist Sofya Vasilievna
Kallistratova lived and worked in Shadrinsk.
Since February
6, 1943, Shadrinsk has been part of the Kurgan region, separated
from the Chelyabinsk region.
In 1943, the Shadrinsk State
Teachers' Institute was transformed into the Shadrinsk State
Pedagogical Institute.
In December 1973, the Shadrinsky bus
and railway station was commissioned.
In February 2016, the
Shadrinsk State Pedagogical Institute was transformed into the
Shadrinsk State Pedagogical University.
In January 2017, the
opening of the Cathedral Mosque took place.