Podolsk

 city, City of Labour Valour

Industrial city, center of Podolsk Urban Okrug, Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Pakhra River (a tributary of the Moskva River).
The first mentions of the village of Podol, which belonged to the votchina of the Danilov Monastery, are contained in the church letopis of 1627-1628. On October 5, 1781, by the personal decree of Catherine II, the Podolsky Uyezd was formed, and the village of Podol was renamed the city of Podolsk. Podolsk land is directly connected with the events of the Patriotic War of 1812. After the Battle of Borodino, the troops under the leadership of Mikhail Kutuzov, passing through Podolsk, took up defensive positions near the village of Krasnaya Pakhra, Podolsk district, then approached Tarutino, setting up a camp here. The famous Tarutino maneuver determined the entire further victorious course of the war with the Napoleonic army. After the Patriotic War of 1812, Podolsk and Podolsk uyezd restored and expanded their economic functions, primarily trade. This, in particular, was facilitated by the construction in 1844-1847 of the Warsaw (Brest-Litovsk) highway, as well as the construction of a bridge across the Pakhra river. In the 1840s, 13 manufactories worked in the uyezd. Among the cities near Moscow, Podolsk in the second half of the 19th century stood out with the highest population growth rate. In 1900, the American company "Singer" founded in Podolsk a mechanical plant for the assembly of sewing machines and the production of parts for them and had become one of the city-forming enterprises of Podolsk, causing city's economic growth at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1917 the stone buildings of a realschule, a cinema, a power plant, and a water supply were built, and the number of citizens reached 19 thousand. In the 1930s, American communist writer Myra Page described Podolsk in her pamphlet Soviet Main Street. In 1971, Podolsk was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. In the Soviet times, Podolsk was one of the industrial giants in Moscow Oblast. At that time, more than seventy factories were operating in the city. Most of the citizens were working at these plants.