Berdsk

Geography

The town is situated on the left bank of Berdsk gulf, the flooded valley of the Berd River, the land is plain. There are fields to the south of the town and a pine forest of about 20 square kilometers (7.7 sq mi) to the west, between Berdsk and the Ob Sea.

History

The migration of Russians into the territory of modern Novosibirsk Oblast began at the end of the 17th century and continuing through the beginning of the 18th century. The people were usual for all the Siberia colonization: fugitive peasants who escaped from excessive pressure of Peter the Great's regime, Old Believers (raskolniki), people free for various reasons (volnitsa) like hunters for furs attracted by the richness of Siberian woods and others, searching for freedom (volya) and wishing to settle in these places (see History of Siberia).

By 1715, the Berd River basin was populated significantly for those ages. The risk of incursions of nomads from the south made them demand building a fortress for defense from the Tomsk district authorities.

In 1716, an expedition left Tomsk and came to the place between the Ob River and its confluent the Berd. The construction was led by Ivan Butkeyev, a captive Pole, who settled in Russia, became a serviceman and went to Siberia. A fortress was built in the angle between the two rivers. It was protected by the rivers and precipitous banks from two sides and by a dense forest on the third side. The Ob River valley was observed well too from the height of the banks.

The very date of 1716 is discussed though. Some researches point to earlier mentions of this fortress. Besides, in this place there was a duty road that led to Kuznetsk (nowadays Novokuznetsk) town yet in the middle of the 17th century. This place could be ideal for a settlement, and some proofs are given by this version supporters. According to them, the fact that in maps of 1710 there was no settlement in place of Berdsk ostrog could mean that it had been destroyed by nomads.

A description of 1734 reads: "There is one wall in arc between Ob and Berd, of cleaned logs with sharp tops, 3 sazhen high (6.39 m/21'). In front of the wall there is a ditch with water and some defensive devices. By the ends of the wall there are observation towers. All the buildings are inside of the ostrog: living houses, the church, the chief's house, the court house, barns and the garrison. The troop consists of local cossacs having guns, there is one small cannon."

Besides the settled Russians who had to farm to live, the state encouraged the servicemen to farm too. They cultivated the land not far from the fortress, constructing temporary houses and farmsteads (in Russian called заи́мки zaímkas).

In 1730, the Siberian trakt (road) passed here, giving an impulse to the development of trade and crafts.

In the beginning of the 19th century in Berdsk area were found grains of gold washed there from the upper course of the Berd, in particular from some sources at Salair range, in 200 km from there. The discovery led to searches and mining of gold in those places.

By the beginning of 20th century Berdsk became a major center of grain processing, refining grain from the upper Ob basin, which nowadays is south of Novosibirsk Oblast and Altai Krai. The industry was highly developed and possessed advanced technologies.

As an example, a mill of a merchant V. A. Gorokhov was a real factory of grain processing, one of the most advanced enterprises in Tomsk Governorate: given an advanced equipment as in the Western Europe, it could operate ninety tonnes of grain in a day, producing flour of several sorts. The flour was packed into special labelled bags and sold in all the Siberia, exported into the European Russia and even to the Western Europe. Gorokhov undertook expeditions to trade flour via Kara Sea where his barge met English merchants. In 1909, Gorokhov's mill won a minor gold medal at the World Fair in Paris. His enterprise was highly developed not only technically and economically, but also socially: the community of the mill personnel lived in a quarter of good and clean houses. They were not only paid well and given gifts for holidays, but also Gorokhov kept a house of culture with stage and professional actors, a library and a well-equipped technical school, to teach all the skills needed to work at the mill, including towboat navigation.

In 1915, Altai railway passed near Berdsk, it connected Novo-Nikolaevsk, Barnaul and Biysk.

The full mobilization during the World War I and the civil war after the revolution heavily struck the town: its population diminished by 1/3. During the Civil War it was a place of military command and administrative center of White movement and also a place of strong resistance of underground communists. The following collectivization was another serious strike, given that the only kind of farmers in Siberia were private independent owners. Even if not many were subjected to repression, the radical change of the relationships ended the role of Siberia as an agricultural exporter.

Town status was granted to Berdsk in 1944.

Because of the construction of the Novosibirsk hydroelectric power station, the main part of the town turned out to be in the zone of flooding of the Ob Sea. In several years before the filling of the water reservoir in 1957–1958, the town was evacuated and rebuilt around that part near the railroad station. The state provided financial aid to inhabitants. There are no historic buildings left in Berdsk, the oldest were built by 1915 for the station, the town streets form straight rectangles. Though, they are wider than were before, and also the rebuilding doubled the average living space per capita.

Berdsk was home to a Soviet bioweapons production facility.

On April 7, 2011, Berdsk elected its first Communist Mayor, Ilya Potapov of the CPRF.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as the Town of Berdsk—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the Town of Berdsk is incorporated as Berdsk Urban Okrug.

Structure and population

The town is divided into seven microdistricts. About one third of the town square are private one-floor small houses. They have only cold water, electricity and wired radio. Another third consists of quarters of municipal houses or recently built commercial. Some quarters possess cable TV networks and computer LANs.

Population statistics:

(Sources: [1] [2])

Transportation

The road M52 passes through Berdsk connecting Novosibirsk with Altai Krai, Altai Republic and Mongolia. Thanks to it, 15–20 minutes are enough to reach Akademgorodok and about 1 hour to main part of Novosibirsk. The daily commuter traffic to workplaces in the latter two places is significant.

Inside of the town there is a network of municipal and private buses routes, including intercity routes to Novosibirsk and Iskitim. In the central part of Berdsk is situated the railway station with branch lines connecting some local enterprises. The station serves local elektrichkas and transit long distance trains to Altai and Kazakhstan.

River passenger or cargo traffic is only private and negligible, though there is a yacht-club and a pier for sand carrying barges.

Education and culture

There are about fifteen high-schools in Berdsk, the last one was rebuilt in 1990s, four trade schools, an electromechanical secondary school, a lyceum, a management college, a medical secondary school, and several libraries.

Berdsk has two palaces of culture: one in the central district and another one in the Mikrorayon microdistrict. There are three stadiums, five sports schools, a musical school, a museum of history and culture, a park, and a yacht club.

Students normally enroll in public school at age seven and graduate eleven years later. Classes are about 40 minutes long. The school day begins about 8:00 and ends between 12:00 and 14:00 depending upon the age of the student. Many students augment their public school education by attending private specialized schools after the public school day is complete. Such schools may offer additional training in language, art, or technology. School no.7 (shown in the photo) is one of the smaller schools. It is the location of a Russian-American Summer School. This three week program is taught by volunteer teachers from the United States, public school no.7 and the Terra Lingua Language School