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For a long time it was believed that the city of Balakovo was founded in 1762, but later a document dated 1738 was found in the archives of St. Petersburg, which mentions the Cossack meadow possession of Balakov Yurt, located two versts from the Volga. December 14, 1762 Empress of Russia Catherine II issued a manifesto calling on the Old Believers, who had fled to Poland, to return from abroad to Russia and settle on the lands between the Bolshoy and Maly Irgiz rivers. To the zealots of the old faith, 70,000 dessiatins (76,300 hectares) of the best land on the left bank of the Volga were allocated for use. Returned Old Believers founded several new settlements, including the village of Balakovo. In 1861 there were 2,700 people living in the village of Balakovo. The convenient location on the shipping routes helped the village to grow rapidly due to wheat trade. In one season, up to 10 million poods of grain were sent from Balakovo. More than 300 spacious barns that stood on the shore of Balakovo, allowed to store grain from harvest to harvest. In the 1860s for one navigation, from Balakovo could go up to 180 barges with cargo. Another commodity, to which the Balakovo merchants traded in huge quantities, was the forest. Balakovo was an intermediary between the forest provinces of the Upper Volga region and the forestless left bank of the Volga. Here, from such rivers as Kama, Belaya, Vyatka, it was brought annually up to 500 thousand poods of firewood and up to three million poods of forest building materials. Part of this forest was processed in two sawmills.
With the development of trade, the pier freight turnover grew, the fleet of freight and passenger ships increased. To repair them, the ship-repair industry was created. In 1897 the population of the village reached 18388 people.
The beginning of the 20th century was marked by a significant expansion of the borders of the village, as well as an increase in the number of industrial enterprises. In May 1911, the Highest Ordinance was signed to confer on Balakovo the status of a city with the rights of self-government. Ivan Mamin, the industrialist, became the first city head. On the eve of the 1917 revolution, there were 6 churches, 7 schools, the grain market, the ironworks of Fyodor Blinov and the mechanical plant of oil engines of the Mamin brothers, ship repair and furniture workshops, sawmills, mills, a commercial college opened in 1910, with considerable financial assistance of the merchant - a patron of Ivan Kobzar, the Zemsky hospital and the city factory ambulance (polyclinic), a library, and a power plant, which was organized by the "Light" partnership.
Inventors-self-taught Fyodor Abramovich Blinov and Yakov Mamin glorified Balakovo as the birthplace of the world's first caterpillar tractor, wheel self-propelled gun and Russian diesel engine. The plant of oil engines and tractors Yakov Mamin in 1915 produced 325 diesel engines, with a total capacity of 5100 horsepower. The image of the old Balakovo was created by such architects as H. F. Meyer and academician Fyodor Schechtel. Carefully preserving and restoring the historical landscape of the central part, the people of Balakovo constantly improve the appearance of a new, young city with spacious avenues, straight as arrows, avenues, slender buildings with elegant facades.
Until 1928, Balakovo was part of the Samara Governorate (Balakovo county existed in 1919–1924), after the Lower Volga region, from December 5, 1936, to the Saratov Oblast.
In the period from 1956 to 1971, the Saratov Hydroelectric Station was built in Balakovo, which led to the flooding of the Volga and the flooding of part of the coastal territory and the changing appearance of the modern city, as well as its sharp growth associated with obtaining the necessary electricity. In a short time the Balakovo industrial complex was created, numbering more than two dozen enterprises of chemistry, engineering, energy, construction industry, food industry. In 1985, the first power unit of the Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant was put into operation, which currently has 4 operating power units.
As a result of the referendum on December 22, 1996, the Balakovo municipal formation was created, which included the city of the regional subordination of Balakovo and the rural Balakovo district. In 2004 the Balakovo municipal formation was renamed Balakovo municipal district.
Balakovo has a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfa) with long cold winters and warm, often hot summers. The warmest month is July with daily mean temperature near +22 °C (72 °F); the coldest month is February with −8 °C (18 °F). Balakovo has distinct cold and warm seasons, like cold winters and warm summers. The temperatures at night are cooler than during daytime.
Winter has prolonged freezing periods, with the coldest month most often being December. August is on average the month with most sunshine. Rainfall and other precipitation has no distinct peak month, but June is slightly the wettest.[citation needed]
Passenger transportations are carried out by buses, route taxis, taxis and trolleybuses. In 2002 a new section of the contact network was put into operation, which allowed increasing the number of trolleybus routes.
The connection between the two parts of the city is carried out by the lock bridge. In 2003, it was decided to build a second bridge across the Navigable Canal. Since December 9, 2015 the Bridge "Victory Bridge" has been put into operation.
There is a bus station "Balakovo", railway station Balakovo, railway station "Linyovo" (for freight trains, electric trains), river station, river port, ship repair port.
Earlier in Balakovo, there was a similar airport (located near the village of Malaya Bykovka), which until the late 1990s received regular flights.[18] In 2003 the airport was closed.
There is a speedway team called Speedway Klub Turbina,[19] that is six-time Soviet Union champion and three-time Russian champion. The Trud Stadium is located south west of the centre of the city, on the south side of the Volga and has hosted various international competitions.[20]
Саратовская областная Дума. Закон №46-ЗСО от 2 июня 2005 г. «Устав (Основной Закон) Саратовской области», в ред. Закона №54-ЗСО от 28 апреля 2015 г. «О внесении изменений в Устав (Основной Закон) Саратовской области». Вступил в силу после официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Неделя области", Спецвыпуск, №38 (156), 4 июня 2005 г. (Saratov Oblast Duma. Law #46-ZSO of June 2, 2005 Charter (Basic Law) of Saratov Oblast, as amended by the Law #54-ZSO of April 28, 2015 On Amending the Charter (Basic Law) of Saratov Oblast. Effective as of after the official publication.).
Совет муниципального образования г. Балаково. Решение №14 от 12 декабря 2005 г. «Устав муниципального образования город Балаково», в ред. Решения №324 от 25 ноября 2011 г. «О внесении изменений и дополнений в Устав муниципального образования город Балаково Балаковского муниципального района Саратовской области, принятый Решением Совета муниципального образования город Балаково от 12 декабря 2005 г. №14». Вступил в силу с момента официального опубликования, за исключением положений, для которых установлены иные сроки и порядок вступления в силу. (Council of the Municipal Formation of the City of Balakovo. Decision #14 of December 12, 2005 Charter of the Municipal Formation of the City of Balakovo, as amended by the Decision #324 of November 25, 2011 On Amending and Supplementing the Charter of the Municipal Formation of the City of Balakovo in Balakovsky Municipal District of Saratov Oblast, Adopted by the Decision #12 of the Council of the Municipal Formation of the City of Balakovo of December 12, 2005. Effective as of the moment of the official publication, with the exception of clauses for which other dates and procedures of taking effect are specified.).
Саратовская областная Дума. Закон №21-ЗСО от 3 апреля 2000 г. «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Саратовской области», в ред. Закона №15-ЗСО от 4 февраля 2014 г. «О внесении изменений в Закон Саратовской области "Об административно-территориальном устройстве Саратовской области"». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Саратовские вести по понедельникам", №12 (12), 10 апреля 2000 г. (Saratov Oblast Duma. Law #21-ZSO of April 3, 2000 On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Saratov Oblast, as amended by the Law #15-ZSO of February 4, 2014 On Amending the Law of Saratov Oblast "On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Saratov Oblast". Effective as of the day of the official publication.).
Саратовская областная Дума. Закон №79-ЗСО от 23 декабря 2004 г «О городских округах». Вступил в силу с 1 января 2005 г. Опубликован: "Саратов — столица Поволжья", №264 (1215), 24 декабря 2004 г. (Saratov Oblast Duma. Law #79-ZSO of December 23, 2004 On the Urban Okrugs. Effective as of January 1, 2005.).
Саратовская областная Дума. Закон №103-ЗСО от 27 декабря 2004 г «О муниципальных образованиях, входящих в состав Балаковского муниципального района», в ред. Закона №41-ЗСО от 28 апреля 2015 г. «О преобразовании Быково-Отрогского, Еланского, Комсомольского, Кормежского, Красноярского, Маянгского, Наумовского, Новоелюзанского, Новополеводинского, Пылковского и Сухо-Отрогского муниципальных образований Балаковского муниципального района Саратовской области и внесении изменений в Закон Саратовской области "О муниципальных образованиях, входящих в состав Балаковского муниципального района"». Вступил в силу с 1 января 2005 г. Опубликован: "Саратов — столица Поволжья", №7–8 (1230–1231), 18 января 2005 г. (Saratov Oblast Duma. Law #103-ZSO of December 27, 2004 On the Municipal Formations Constituting Balakovsky Municipal District, as amended by the Law #41-ZSO of April 28, 2015 On the Transformation of Bykovo-Otrogskoye, Yelanskoye, Komsomolskoye, Kormezhskoye, Krasnoyarskoye, Mayangskoye, Naumovskoye, Novoyelyuzanskoye, Novopolevodinskoye, Pylkovskoye, and Sukho-Otrogskoye Municipal Formations in Balakovsky Municipal District of Saratov Oblast and on Amending the Law of Saratov Oblast "On the Municipal Formations Constituting Balakovsky Municipal District". Effective as of January 1, 2005.).
[12])
Trnava, Slovakia
Cherepovets, Russia
Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States
