"City of Coalminers" a Kirovsk Travel Page by hunterV

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The city is located in the hilly valley of the River Luhanka 70 km to the northwest of Luhansk, the regional center.
The territory of the city is 28.4 sq.km/ 11 sq.mi (even more with suburbs: 35 sq.km/13.5 sq.mi).
37 thousand residents live in the city itself (and 45 thousand all in all, including the residents of the suburbs).
The city area lies in the hilly valley located at the heights from 80 meters (262.5 feet) to 220 meters (722 feet) above sea level.
The air line west-east comprises 6.5 km/4 miles and the air line north-south - 7 km/4.4 miles. The River Luhanka flows on the western outskirts of Kirovsk.
The city suburbs include three settlements:

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Donetskiy, Novotoshkovskiy ("New Toshkovka"),
Chervonogvardeyskiy ("Red Guards Settlement").

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The climate is sharp continental with hot summers and frosty winter. The frost in winter are rather severe - the temperature often falls to 10 or 15 degrees below zero (in January, the coldest month).

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City entrance sign, Kirovsk, Ukraine

Some History

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The history of settling that area begins with the Serbs who settled those lands on the invitation of the Empress Catherine II in the middle of the 18th century as warriors defending the southern borders of the Russian Empire. The Serbs fouded a Serb territory there known in history as Slav Serbia.
In the 50s and 60s of the 18th century the territory of the city was a part of what was known as Slav Serbia, an autonomous area presented to the Serbs by Empress Catherine II. The empress presented the new settlers with a special charter that granted them “eternal property” with the right of inheritance on that land, freed the new settlers from all taxes and guaranteed them high wages.
The area existed for a short period – from 1752 till 1764 when a new territory was formed – New Russia Province.
The area around Kirovsk was given to a cavalry officer Peter Golub who settled there in 1762 and became a Russian citizen. The first settlement was very small; it only consisted of four farmsteads with 20 settlers.
The deposits of coal were discovered in 1837 and rapid exploration and development of the area began. In 1884 the fist coalmine was built that was called Golub Coalmine since 1888. It became the basis for the present-day coalmine called Coalmine #22, or Kirov Coalmine. Another coalmine of the city is still called Golub Coalmine in honor of the leader of the first settlers of the area. Besides, the city railway station is still called Golubivka in his honor.
Dmitry Mendeleyev, a famous Russian chemist, the author of the Periodical System of Elements, visited this coal-mining settlement in 1888 during his trip around the Donets Basin when he studied its coal-mining industry.
The coal-mining settlement was officially called Golub Coalmine until 1944 and then it was included into the neighboring city of Kadiyevka (now Stakhanov) as one of its districts. The district became an independent city on April 2, 1962. It was called Kirovsk because the biggest city coalmine was called in honor of Sergey Kirov, a Soviet Communist Party leader who was murdered in 1934 in his office in Leningrad.
Now there are streets, squares, factories and five other towns named after him in different parts of the former Soviet Union.

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The biggest apartment houses in the city, Kirovsk

City Infrastructure

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Kirovsk was called Golub Mine until September 1944 and was subjected to the neighboring city of Kadiyevka as Golub District.
On December 30, 1962 Golub District of Kadiyevka became the town of Kirovsk Thus Golub Mine got the name of the ”Soviet Saint” Sergey Kirov.
The town is located on the River Luhanka, the right tributary of the Seversky Donets, 57 km/35.5 miles away from Luhansk and 4 km/2.5 miles from the railway station of Golubovka.
The city is famous for its coal-mining industry, machine-building enterprises, light industry and food industry. They manufacture clothes for kids in cooperation with such American companies as Amerix and Low-Levi. There is also a winery called Alco-Prima that bottles wines imported from Russia, Azerbaijan and other FSU countries. The bakery is also well known for its products.
The city has 184 streets, lanes and blocks, among them 117 are related to the events and public figures of 1917-1991.
There are nine secondary schools in the city including one Ukrainian gymnasium that I had the honor of visiting.
There is also a transport school, a music school and two arts schools, a swimming pool called Shakhtyor (Miner). Many places in Kirovsk are called after mines: the soccer team, the stadium, the swimming pool, etc.
You can also get some useful information at the official web server of the Regional Gorky Library:
General Information about Kirovsk.
Town's web site in Russian

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