The story
History
Taldom district has been inhabited since the Prehistoric times, but Taldom was first mentioned as a village only in 1677. Formally it remained a village until 1918 but in fact it gained the population of an awerage town in the middle of the 19th century.
Before the foundation of the village
No older settlements have been found on the territory of the town. Although the surroundings of Taldom have been inhabited since the late Stone Age. No comprehensive archaeological work has been carried out on the territory of the town. Not even any treasures were found.
Taldom in the 17-19th centuries
The first mention of the toponym dates back to 1650. In the census of the wastelands of Lukian Mizintsov, boyar son from Kashin. Taldom was first mentioned as a village in 1677. This fact is widely recognized by local historians, because there is no mention of a village called Taldom in the Kashinskaya Pistsovaya Kniga (the scrible book of Kashin) of 1627–1629. However, in the scribal book of Kashin from 1677, there is a mention of one. Taldom was founded on the banks of the Taldomka creek (basin of Kuyminka, Dubna, and Volga). In 1677, there were only seven families living there. Therefore, there were seven yards with 38 inhabitants. The village belonged to Archbishop Simeon of Tver and Kashin. Because of the poor soils people here worked as skinners and tanners. So it was an artisan village.
From 1677 to 1688, Taldom was a part of the Kimry Palace Volost. Until the year of 1764 it was a property of the Archbishop of Tver and Kashin. In 1680, a wooden church was built (by local historian Leo Krylov). The church was built up to 1717. Between 1688 and 1719 Taldom was a part of Gostunskaya volost (rus. Гостунская волость) of Kashin uezd. Since the year 1702, Taldom was part of the Governatory of Ingermanland, which since 1711 became the Governatory of St. Petersburg. Since 1719, it was the part of Uglich Province. In 1727 Uglich Province became a part of the Governatory of Moscow.
Thought that the present-day District of Taldom is a part of the medieval Grand Duchy of Tver. The town itself was economically closer to Yaroslavl until the mid-20th century when it became closer to Moscow due to internal migrations.
After the Secularisation reform of Cathrene the Great in 1764, Taldom became an economical settlement (rus. экономическое поселение, economicheskoye poseleniye) belonged to the College of Economics of the Sinodal Bord. After this, Taldom became a trading village. In 1776, the Kalyazinsky uezd was formed as part of the Tver Governorate, which included the village of Taldom. Taldom volost was formed around it.
In 1778, a fire broke out in the village of Taldom. Many houses and a church burned down. In 1780, the church was rebuilt in wood, and in 1795 it was rebuilt in stone. In 1808, the stone church was consecrated. In 1829, there were 30 yards in Taldom. In 1835, there were 41 yards. In 1859, more than 1,000 people (508 men and 537 women) lived in Taldom, and there were 147 households. However, despite the rapid population growth, Taldom remained a village. This growth temporarily stopped in 1869, when the second major fire occurred in Taldom, which, according to the testimony of the clerk of the Ermolino estate of Saltykovs, V. I. Bylinin, destroyed up to 155 houses. The village burned 2 times within 4 days. According to Bylinin, "clean fields were created." However, by the 1880s the village had recovered. After the abolition of serfdom in 1861, the influx of labor and the growing demand for shoes further contributed to the development of the shoe industry in the Taldom. Taldom becomes the center of shoe trade. If at the beginning of the 19th century fairs were held in Taldom 2 times a year, by the end of the 19th century these fairs turned into regular weekly auctions, attracting numerous shoe buyers from all over Russia. The trade was held in tents near the St. Michael's Church on the Trading (rus. Торговая, Torgovaya) Square (now Karl Marx Square). In the 18th century, "bricks" (rus. кирпичи, kirpichi) were produced here - men's shoes with a clay lining. Then came the technology of manufacturing "ostashi" (rus. осташи) (boots with high tops made of rough, unpainted leather). In the 19th century, the manufacture of corduroy and velvet shoes with fur began. By the end of the 19th century, the city was making shoes of various kinds, ranging from children's and ladies' shoes to wading and army boots. On October 4, 1877, the Zemstvo (local) hospital with surgical, therapeutic and infectious diseases buildings, with an outpatient clinic and office apartments for medical staff (as of 1906) was opened. In 1887, the Church of St. Michael the Archangel was rebuilt according to the project of P. A. Vinogradov.
The heyday of the village between 1888 and 1918
By 1888, Taldom had a volost (parish) board, a postal and telegraph office, a postal station, a medical assistant station, three blacksmith shops, and eight shoemaking workshops. Residents and guests of the village are served by two guesthouses, three inns, a tavern, three wine shops, forty colonial and small shops. There were 180 shoe-making workshops, 5 wholesale shoe warehouses, an oil mill, a steam mill, 2 sawmills, 4 brick factories, and a shoe-brick factory in Taldom and the district (since 1910).There were 2 zemstvo and 1 volost school, and since 1906 a two-set a ministerial school, an orphanage for 21 children, 12 teahouses, 4 beerhouses.
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Shoemaking and furriery are flourishing. By this time, there is an urban legend that a certain French woman came to the village, who bought a pair of fashionable "Romanian" boots here. According to legend, a foreigner could only take out one pair of shoes from Russia. So this French woman threw away her shoes and bought two pairs. She put one on her feet, and took the other to France for sale. By selling a second pair of shoes there, she allegedly paid off her trip to Russia. This legend speaks about the high quality of Taldom shoes. However, those shoes were really famous abroad: in France and in Italy. The competitors of the villagers were residents of the neighboring Kimry, also known for their shoe products. In addition, Moscow craftsmen tried to oust the shoe market of Taldom and Kimry handicrafts. Muscovites came up with various tall tales about how bad the neighbors' shoes were and how good were their. However, this did not affect the sales volume of Taldom shoes. On the contrary, sales volumes only grew every year. Taldom and Kimry competed for the title of the "shoe capital" of Russia.
At this time, not only Orthodox Christians live in Taldom, but also a significant proportion of Old Believers. In particular, representatives of one of the most respected and wealthy families of the village, the Volkovs, came from the Old Believers. The Old Believers' Church was located on the site of a modern monument to the soviet partisan Zina Golitsyna. However, until 1905, the Old Believers were persecuted in Russia as heretics. It was only in 1906, after the introduction of religious tolerance in Russia, that the Old Believers were able to transform the prayer house into a church. There was also an Old Believers' cemetery, on the site of which a cultural center was built in Soviet times. During the Soviet times most of the Old Believers abandoned their religion for atheism or Orthodoxy.
In 1894, a private Pashkevich's pharmacy was opened in Taldom, and a year later a six-bed zemstvo (local) hospital was built. Wooden shopping malls have been built. I.I.Bychkov's company was founded, which sells children's, ladies' and men's shoes. In 1897, the first public library named after Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna was opened in Taldom. In 1901, the Savyolovskaya branch of the Moscow Railway passed through Taldom, connecting the village with Dmitrov, Degunino, Moscow and Kimry (Savyolovo). Thanks to the efforts of a group of merchants, the railway did not pass by the village, as planned at the beginning, but through it. In 1907, the export of leather shoes by railway alone from Taldom station amounted to 31,000 pounds or 350,000 pairs. In addition to shoe production, tailoring, furriery, and felting industries were developed, as well as logging for firewood and timber. In 1906, the Kashin trakt was paved. This made the logistics of the village as profitable as possible. In 1907, the first street lamp appeared on the streets of the village. In 1912, the post office acquired its own building.
Active brick construction in the Art Nouveau style began in 1907. Obviously, this fashion was borrowed from the neighboring Kimry. In turn, she came to Kimry from St. Petersburg. The village center is actively being rebuilt in brick style. One of the first surviving civilian brick building was the apartment building of merchant N. F. Kisilev (45 Saltykov-Shchedrin Street). Kisilev was engaged in roofing production, on which he made capital, which allowed him to build a magnificent mansion. There was a shoe store and a restaurant on the ground floor. On the second floor are the living rooms of the owners. After nationalization during the Soviet era, a school was opened in the house, where Kisilev's son Nikolai taught. The building now houses a library.
In 1908, the Volkov mansion was built next to the Kisilevs' house. The most notable representative of this Old Believer merchant family was Dmitry Ivanovich Volkov. The Volkov family, being Old Believers, did not like to spend time playing cards and drinking, like many other Taldom merchants. Instead, the family loved listening to music, going to the theater, and engaging in socially useful activities such as politics, education, local history, and literature. Dmitry Ivanovich acquired significant capital through hard work, which he later began to invest in the needs of the zemstvo, thereby covering the construction of infrastructure and social institutions in Taldom. Locals nicknamed Dmitry "The Red Sun" (rus. Красно солнышко, Krasno Solnyshko) which means a person who is respected by his merits before the people. Dmitry was personally acquainted with the writer Mikhail Prishvin and became the prototype of the main character of his story "Lord's road" (rus. Осударева дорога, Osudareva Doroga). Like Prishvin, Volkov was engaged in local history. Thus, Dmitry Ivanovich Volkov made a great contribution to the development of the village. After the abolition of the NEP, Volkov was exiled to Kalinin, and later lived out his last years in Moscow, working at the "Red Shoemaker" (rus. Красный башмачник, Krasny Bashmachnik) factory. Now the house of Volkovs is a local museum.
In addition to these houses, other unique Art Nouveau apartment buildings were built. Among them are the houses of merchants Mashatins. The houses of the brothers Alexey and Vladimir eventually merged into one house, which now houses the town administration. Alexey Mashatin, before the revolution, was engaged in the leather trade, lent loans to Taldom artisans and bought shoes from them. Vladimir Mashatin was engaged in the grocery trade. The third brother, Matvey, was also engaged in the grocery trade and owned the printing house, the oldest civilian brick building in Taldom that has survived to this day. It was founded in 1899. The houses of shoe merchants Yefim (built in 1908) and Alexey (1906) Kharitonov, located on Kalyazinskaya Street, are noteworthy. Sadov's shoe maker's House (1909), merchant S. S. Smirnov's apartment building with shopping malls (1912) and F. A. Vorontsov's apartment building (1912), which housed the city's first cinema, and later an art school that still exists. With the money of the Smirnov merchants, a brick fire station and a brick fire tower were built, which still exist. There was a fire brigade "The Red Rooster" (rus. Красный петух, Krasny petukh) with a 4-lane fire wagon train. Unfotinatly, some of the great buildings of this time were destroyed during the 20th century an so they are not presented anywhere else but on the old photos.
As for the wooden construction of the village, it remained dominant outside the center. However, the wooden houses were no less rich and large than the stone ones. Almost any wooden house of that time is richly decorated with wood carvings, especially the architraves. There is often an image of a snake in the carving patterns, which is typical for the Upper Volga region, especially for the Tver and Yaroslavl regions. The richest houses often have the owner's initials carved on the facade, and sometimes the year of construction or the name of the contractor. Many wooden houses in the city are two-storied. However, the most common type of wooden house in Taldom remained a one-story five-story building. Only in Taldom and Kimry (rarely in neighboring towns) houses with a mezzanine in the form of a bicorne hat have been preserved.
In 1908, the wooden shopping malls were rebuilt in stone. At that time, the square on which they are located (now Karl Marx Square) became known as Cathedral (rus. Соборная, Sobornaya) Square, since the Cathedral of Archangel Michael was located on it. Far beyond the borders of Tver Governorate, the faience iconostasis of the cathedral was known, which was only partially preserved after the destruction of the cathedral by the Bolsheviks. Actually, the Bolsheviks began to enter the city in 1904. In 1906 a member of the First state Duma came to Taldom so the leftists welcomed him by meeting with the red flag and slogans "Down with the autocracy!" "Long live the RSDLP!" (rus. Долой самодержавие! Да здравствует РСДРП!, Doloy samoderzhvie! Da zdravstvuet RSDRP!). In the same year police managed to arrest some of the members of the Socialist club. In 1910 police managed to declassify the underground RSDLP group. In 1914 some of the residents of the village gone to World War I. Such famous residents of Taldom as revolutionaries Nikolay Sobtsov and Mikhail Sedov, writers Sergey Klychkov and Ivan Romanov took part in the First World War. It seriously influenced Sergey Klychkov and was reflected in his works. Although the front line was far from Taldom, local artisans received a huge number of orders for shoes for the army, thereby enriching themselves. In 1916, the first cinema was opened in Taldom.
Short time before the February Revolution and the establishment of the republican system in Russia, a corporate movement began to develop in the village. In May, the Taldom branch of the Union of Dmitrov Cooperatives was opened. Now the heir of this enterprise is the Cooperator store. In the late 1910s, the cooperative movement became widespread in the Taldom district — by 1917, 29 cooperatives were operating. Most of these cooperative organizations were members of the Union of Dmitrov Cooperatives. In 1916, only the Taldom branch of the Union sold shoes for 2 million rubles. The Union rented eight premises for warehouses, and builds two wooden warehouses near the railway station. From May 1917 to January 1, 1918, 11 consumer societies appeared in Taldom district.
On April 5, 1917, a handicraft artel of shoemakers opened in Taldom. Each member of the artel worked at home, and brought the goods to the office and, after announcing the price, put them on commission. If the product did not sell, the artisan took it back or lowered the price. The artel has gained credibility. By the end of 1917, the artel already had 239 members. Starting without any funds, it gained a mutual fund of 1,195 emperial rubles. The Taldom branch of the Union of Dmitrov Cooperatives acted as an intermediary in trade. Only from October 1, 1917, to January 1, 1918, the Union supplied shoes to the Moscow Food Committee for 1.25 million rubles from the Taldom Artel.
During the period of the provisional government, a Socialist Club was formed in Taldom, uniting followers of the Socialist Revolutionaries, Anarchists, Social-Democrats, and Mensheviks.
On March 8–9, 1918, the volost congress of Soviets of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies was held, at which the Taldom Volost Council of Peasants' and Workers' Deputies (the former Zemstvo council) unanimously decided: "Recognize the power of the Soviets." The executive committee was established under the leadership of the Bolshevik I. G. Zyablikov.
The anti-Bolshevik rebellion of 1918
Nikolai Moiseevich Sobtsov played a key role in the establishment of Soviet power in the village. He was born in 1881 in the village of Myakishevo, a few miles from Taldom, into a family of a coachman and a furrier. In 1905, while working as a shoemaker in St. Petersburg, he became interested in socialist ideology, joined the RSDLP and the Union of Shoemakers (rus. Союз Башмачников, Soyuz Bashmachnikov). In 1906, Sobtsov left for Taldom in order to spread socialist ideology among artisans. Sobtsov became the de facto chairman of the Taldom branch of the RSDLP, which was subject to the directives of the Moscow District Committee of the RSDLP(b). With Sobtsov's active participation, the organization held flying rallies and meetings, distributed proclamations and revolutionary literature. Between 1907 and 1910, Sobtsov, who staged a strike in Bychkov's workshop, was refused employment both in Taldom and in St. Petersburg. At first, he was helped by friends from the party, but by 1910, there was only one remained at large member of the RSDLP from Taldom, not counting Sobtsov himself. However, he was lucky and was hired by the merchant Smirnov. He wanted to use Sobtsov for his own purposes, as an influential figure among young artisans. But already in 1913, Sobtsov created his own workshop. Soon a Socialist Club is forming around it. In 1915–1918, Sobtsov participated in the First World War, where he promoted socialist ideas among soldiers. In February 1918, he was demobilized and, together with M. Sedov, a fellow party member and member of the Socialist Club, held the first volost congress of Soviets on March 5, 1918. On April 3, Sobtsov made a report on the work of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets at a regular meeting of the volost council. During this very difficult period of the formation of Soviet power in the country, and in Taldom in particular, the food supply of the population was a very acute issue. Sobtsov was elected Commissioner for Food (rus. Комиссар продовольствия, Comissar prodovol'stviya). Against the background of the dire situation both in the country and directly in the region, Sobtsov starts a company to seize bread from wealthy peasants, introduces an emergency tax. On May 1, 1918, at a rally dedicated to the International Day of Workers' Solidarity, Sobtsov made a speech, urging people to build a new bright life. The haters of Soviet power present at the rally did not hesitate to say: "Here we will show him a bright future!" (rus. Вот мы ему покажем светлое будущее!", Vot my yemu pokazhem svetloye buduscheye).
Administrative and municipal history
Until 2018, Taldom was the center of Taldomsky District. As part of the reform of the administrative and municipal division of Moscow Oblast, Taldomsky District was abolished, and its territory, including the urban-type settlements of Severny, Verbilki, and Zaprudnya, and a number of rural localities, was subordinated to the town of Taldom, which at the same time was elevated to the town of oblast significance. As a municipal division, Taldomsky Municipal District was abolished, and the same territory was incorporated as Taldom Urban Okrug. The formal denomination of the area is since 2018 the town of oblast significance of Taldom with added territory.
From Wikipedia’s article on Taldom transmitter, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3