It was founded in 1474 as Sol-na-Gorodtse (Соль-на-Городце).[citation needed] After the Khan of Kazan razed it to the ground in 1536, a wooden fort was constructed to protect the settlement against further Tatar incursions. For the following three centuries, Balakhna prospered as a center of saltworks and grain trade. By the Time of Troubles, it was the twelfth largest city in Russia.
Adam Olearius visited and described the town in 1636. That year several shipwrights from Holstein built the first Russian ships here, thus establishing Balakhna as a foremost center of national river shipbuilding. The people of Balakhna were also reputed for their skills in knitting and making colored tiles, which were used for decoration of the Savior Church (1668) and other local temples. Balakhna is one of the few Russian cities shown on the 1689 Amsterdam World Map (labeled Balaghna).
The northwestern part of Balakhna is known as Pravdinsk. It used to be a separate urban-type settlement before it was merged into Balakhna in 1993. The settlement was named after the Moscow Pravda newspaper, which at some point may have been the largest consumer of newsprint produced at the local paper mill.
The oldest structure in the city (and in the whole region) is the tentlike church of St. Nicholas (1552). Of all the tentlike churches built in brick, this is the nearest approach to their wooden prototypes. Another church, dating from the 17th century, houses a municipal museum. The Nativity church (1675) represents an archaic monumental type of monastery cathedral. Nearby is a statue of Kuzma Minin, who was born in Balakhna.
Государственно-правовой департамент Нижегородской области. Приказ №3-од от 27 января 2016 г. «Об утверждении реестра административно-территориальных образований, городских и сельских населённых пунктов Нижегородской области». Опубликован: "Нижегородская правда", №27(26048) (начало) и №30 (26051) (окончание), 19 и 26 марта 2016 г. (State Legal Department of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. Order #3-od of January 27, 2016 On the Adoption of the Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Formations, Urban and Rural Localities of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. ).
Законодательное Собрание Нижегородской области. Закон №107-З от 28 сентября 2006 г. «Об утверждении границ, состава территории Балахнинского муниципального района и состава территорий муниципальных образований, входящих в состав Балахнинского муниципального района», в ред. Закона №13-З от 6 февраля 2013 г. «Об упразднении населённого пункта деревня Старцево в Балахнинском районе Нижегородской области и о внесении изменения в статью 1 Закона Нижегородской области "Об утверждении границ, состава территории Балахнинского муниципального района и состава территорий муниципальных образований, входящих в состав Балахнинского муниципального района"». Вступил в силу по истечении десяти дней со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Нижегородские новости", №184(3596), 7 октября 2006 г. (Legislative Assembly of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. Law #107-Z of September 28, 2006 On Establishing the Borders and the Composition of Balakhninsky Municipal District and the Composition of the Municipal Formations Within Balakhninsky Municipal District, as amended by the Law #13-Z of February 6, 2013 On Abolishing the Inhabited Locality the Village of Startsevo in Balakhninsky District of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and on Amending Article 1 of the Law of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast "On Establishing the Borders and the Composition of Balakhninsky Municipal District and the Composition of the Municipal Formations Within Balakhninsky Municipal District". Effective as of the day after ten days from the day of the official publication have passed.).
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