The mining town of Prokopyevsk: the population is decreasing

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

Old by Siberian standards, the mining town of Prokopyevsk became a major industrial center during the Soviet era. Now he is going through hard times, many industrial enterprises have long been closed, as well as part of the mines. The population of Prokopievsk has decreased by almost a third compared to the best years.

Geographic Information

The city is located on the banks of the Aba River (a tributary of the Tom) in the foothills of the Salair Ridge, in the southern part of Western Siberia. At a distance of 270 km to the north-west is the regional center - Kemerovo. The ecological situation, as in all of Kuzbass, is not very favorable, "black snow" due to coal dust is also not uncommon here. The area of the city is 227.5 sq. km.

The climate in the region is sharply continental with long cold winters and short hot summers. Despite the harsh winter, the cold is tolerated quite easily, thanks to the low humidity. The average temperature in the coldest month - January - is minus 25. In the hottest month (July) - plus 19.

General information

This city of regional subordination is the administrative center of the district of the same name and the urban district. In terms of population, Prokopievsk is in third place in the rather densely populated Kemerovo region. It is one of the oldest cities in the region.

The Russian government classified it as a city with a very difficult socio-economic situation. The official name of the townspeople is prokopchane (men - prokopchanin, women - prokopchanka).

Prokopyevsk is one of the key centers for the production of coking coal in the country, one mine named after Dzerzhinsky (out of 16 that used to work) and the Berezovsky open pit are currently operating. In Soviet times, the city was the center of mechanical engineering, now most of the enterprises are closed, they function mainly serving the work of the coal mining industry. In 2009, the first stage of the Novotrans car repair plant was opened.

The city railway station sends and receives trains going through Novokuznetsk, and electric trains to the nearest cities. The population of Prokopyevsk uses the Novokuznetsk airport. The bus station operates 63 daily flights to various destinations.

The early years

The city was formed by the merger of several ancient villages, including Usyat, Safonovo, Monastyrskaya. In 1618, the Kuznetsk prison was built, in 1648 the Nativity of Christ Monastery was founded and the village of Monastyrskoye not far from it.

It was founded by peasants who worked for the monastery. Settlementreplenished with peasants who received a loan from the monks - land, grain, livestock. The village was first noted by the Russian cartographer Remizov S. in the "Drawing Book of Siberia", written in 1699–1700.

By the middle of the 19th century, the village of Monastyrskaya began to be called the Prokopevsky village in honor of Procopius of Ustyug. In 1859 there were 21 households in the village. The population of Prokopyevsk was 140 inhabitants. The sociologist and economist V. V. Bervi-Flerovsky, who was exiled in these places, noted the extreme poverty of the peasants, who did not have enough hay for the winter even for a few livestock. Animals often starved to death or were sold cheaply.

In 1911, the village became the center of the volost in the Tomsk province.

According to the census of those years, there were 157 households in the settlement, land was 7,245 acres, the population of Prokopyevsk totaled 864 people. A butter factory, a bakery store, two manufacturing shops, a church and a parochial school worked in Prokopyevskoye. Most of the villagers were descendants of the first settlers. In 1916, the development of coal deposits by the Franco-German-Belgian company began.

Recent Times

In 1920, the Sibugol enterprise was established, which began industrial coal mining. Later, a railway was built to the mines, which made it possible to quickly increase coal production. The construction of housing and social facilities has begun, schools and literacy centers have been opened. In 1931, the settlement received the status of a city. PopulationProkopievsk was 54,300 people, an increase of almost 5 times compared to 1926. Newly opened mines and factories under construction came to work from all regions of the country.

In the Soviet years, many machine-building enterprises worked in the city, new residential microdistricts, he alth care, culture and sports facilities were built. In 1971, the population of Prokopyevsk was 273,000 people.

In the post-Soviet period, the city fell into a period of protracted crisis, industrial enterprises and most of the mines were closed. The number of inhabitants was constantly decreasing. In 2017, the population of the city of Prokopyevsk was 196,406 people.