Kirovograd

Kirovograd

a city in S central Ukraine on the Ingul River: manufacturing centre of a rich agricultural area. Pop.: 250 000 (2005 est.)

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Kirovograd 

(formerly Elizavetgrad), a city and the center of Kirovograd Oblast, Ukrainian SSR. Situated on the Ingul River of the Iuzhnyi Bug basin, it has a railroad station and is a highway junction. Population, 201,000 (1972; 103,000 in 1939; 132,000 in 1959).

The city was founded in 1764 not far from the St. Elizabeth Fortress, built in 1754 to defend the southern Russian frontier against Turkish and Tatar incursions. In 1775 it became one of the district capitals of Novorossiisk Province and in 1803, of Kherson Province. In the 18th century it was a major commercial center of the Ukraine, through which grain, livestock, wool, and other products were shipped to the interior regions of Russia and abroad. From 1828 to 1860 the city was under military administration. After construction of the Kharkov-Elizavet-grad-Odessa Railroad in 1868–69, industry developed rapidly. By the end of the 1880’s there were about 140 plants and factories, including the large Elworthy Farm Machinery Plant. In 1897 Social Democratic workers’ groups were organized, and in the summer of 1902 the Elizavetgrad Committee of the RSDLP was formed. On Jan. 29, 1918, Soviet power was proclaimed in the city. From Aug. 4, 1941, to Jan. 8, 1944, the city was occupied by fascist German troops, who inflicted much damage. Under the postwar five-year plans, Kirovograd was completely rebuilt.

Today the city is an important industrial center with machine building and metalworking as its leading industries. Major enterprises include the Red Star Agricultural Machinery Plant, producing more than 50 percent of the country’s tractor seeders, and plants manufacturing tractor hydraulic units (water and oil pumps for combine motors), cast iron, and radio parts. The food industry is represented by vegetable-oil, meat-packing, and dairy combines, and the light industry by garment, footwear, hosiery, and cord factories. There are also woodworking and building materials enterprises. Kirovograd has a pedagogical institute, an institute of farm machinery construction, and nine specialized secondary schools, including machine-building, agricultural mechanization, and construction technicums. There are musical-dramatic and puppet theaters, a philharmonic society, and a museum of local lore.

REFERENCE

Kramarenko, V., and I. P. Olifirenko. Kirovohradshchyna.. Dnepropetrovsk, 1967.

G. A. MISHCHENKO