Nevinnomyssk: population and history of a single-industry town

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

Scenic landscapes and the southern landscape of this city could not spoil even a chemical plant. Nevinnomyssk happily escaped the sad fate of most Russian single-industry towns. And although the city-forming enterprise "Nevinnomyssk Azot" has long been no longer public property, the population of Nevinnomyssk is not particularly poor only thanks to its work.

General information

The city is located on the Stavropol Upland in Ciscaucasia, 55 km south of the regional center. Nevinnomyssk was built up along the banks of the Kuban River and the Bolshoy Zelenchuk River, which flows into it. Here begins the Nevinnomyssky Canal, which supplies water from the Kuban to Bolshoi Yegorlyk.

Nevinnomyssk is a city of regional subordination. It is a major transport hub: there is a railway and highways to Rostov, Mineralnye Vody, Karachay-Cherkessia. The climate in the region is favorable for life, characterized by mild winters and hot summers. Picturesque forests, parks, plantedalong the rivers, are one of the favorite sights of the city and a popular vacation spot for citizens.

Origin of the name

There are several versions of the origin of the name of the city, which was named after the name of the river on the banks of which it was built. According to one of them, more than 100 years ago, the Russian military historian V. A. Potto found in the archives of the city of Mozdok a file dated 1784, in which it was written that the small river flowing into the Kuban was ordered to be called Innocent. Since the former name given by the Cossacks and soldiers who served here was obscene.

Modern researcher V. A. Kolesnikov in his monograph "The Past of the Innocent Cape" suggested that the name of the area was given by P. S. Potemkin on the mountain towering above the modern city. In the Nogai language, the mountain is called Aryuv-kyz, which translates as "beautiful girl". According to legend, the local prince married his beautiful daughter to the famous hero, whom the girl did not love. And one day she threw herself off a cliff. Then people called this place Innocent Cape. A beautiful and tragic version is liked by most of the population of the city of Nevinnomyssk.

History

After the entry of the Stavropol lands into the Russian Empire on the cape, later called Innocent, an outpost was built to control the ford. In 1825, the village of Nevinnomysskaya was founded. To protect the new lands from the raids of the Circassians, Cossacks from other Russian regions were resettled in the settlement. By 1833, the Cossack regiment already numbered 12 hundred. In the secondIn the middle of the 19th century, a railway was built to the village, and industry began to develop.

After the revolutionary upheavals, the village began to develop rapidly, in 1929 becoming a collective farm named after V. I. Lenin. In 1939 (October 19) it was transformed into the city of Nevinnomyssk. From August 1942 to January 1943 was under the occupation of German troops. In the 1960s, the Nevinnomysskaya State District Power Plant, the Nevinnomyssk Nitrogen Fertilizer Plant and other industrial enterprises began to operate in the city. In 2001, control over the oldest fertilizer producer in the country passed to the EuroChem group.

Economy

The city has a stable socio-economic situation, since 2017 it has been considered one of the best single-industry towns in Russia. Last year, a priority development area was created to reduce the dependence of the population of Nevinnomyssk on the work of the city-forming enterprise.

The main enterprise of the city is the Nevinnomyssky Azot chemical plant, the construction of which began in 1954. In 1962, the first product was released - ammonia. The plant produces a wide range of mineral fertilizers. Other large enterprises are household chemical plants, boiler and radiator plants. The city is supplied with electricity by Nevinnomysskaya GRES.

Population before revolutionary times

Four years after the foundation of the village of Nevinnomysskaya, 1498 people lived in it. By 1844, the population of Nevinnomyssk reached 2025 people. It was in the firstturn due to the resettlement of the Khoper and Volga Cossacks to protect against the raids of the Abreks. In subsequent years, the number of inhabitants grew due to natural increase. In the last decade of the 19th century, the number of inhabitants increased rapidly, reaching 8,371 in 1897. By this time, the raids of the militant highlanders had been eliminated, the railway had been built, and the first factories had been built. The population of Nevinnomyssk has increased due to the influx of people from the central regions of Russia. In the last year before the First World War, 15,293 people already lived in the village. Two years later, in 1915, the population had dropped to 13,057. Most of the male Cossack population was sent to fight.

Population in modern times

In the first post-revolutionary years, the population of Nevinnomyssk experienced a civil war, repressions, famine and collectivization. On the collective farm Lenin, organized in the village in 1939, 23,600 people lived. In the post-war years, the population began to grow rapidly due to the influx of people from other regions of the country to construction sites and industrial enterprises. In 1959, the population of Nevinnomyssk was 39,806 people. In 1970, the number of inhabitants exceeded 80,000 (85,067) for the first time.

Construction and reaching the design capacity of the chemical plant required the involvement of labor resources from other Russian regions. In 1975, the number of inhabitants of the city for the first time reached 100,000. The population continued to increase even in the difficult 90s until 1998, when the number reached 133,802resident. In the 21st century, the population of Nevinnomyssk is gradually decreasing, with the exception of 2015-2016, when there was a slight increase. According to the latest data in 2018, the city has 117,446 inhabitants. The main population by ethnic composition: the majority are Russians - 89.90%, then Ukrainians - 1.99%, Armenians - 1.84%.