Rybinsk

(from 1946 to 1957, Shcherbakov), a city under oblast jurisdiction and administrative center of Rybinsk Raion, Yaroslavl Oblast, RSFSR. Rybinsk extends 22 km along both banks of the Volga River at the entrance to Rybinsk Reservoir. It is a river port; its railroad station is 79 km northwest of Yaroslavl. Population, 233,000 (1975; 24,000 in 1897; 56,000 in 1926; 144,000 in 1939; 182,000 in 1959; and 218,000 in 1970). Rybinsk is divided into two raions.

A settlement in the area of present-day Rybinsk first appears in a chronicle under the year 1071; the settlement was known as Ust’-Sheksna. After 1504 it was called Rybnaia Sloboda. After the Vyshnii Volok Water System opened in 1709, the town developed rapidly as a trade center and ship reloading point. From 1777 it was a district capital; from 1778 it was known as Rybinsk; and from 1796 it was part of Yaroslavl Province.

In the 19th century, Rybinsk was the largest trade center on the upper Volga, where as many as 100,000 barge haulers and stevedores sought work. After 1871 a railroad connected Rybinsk with the Baltic ports and St. Petersburg. In the late 19th century, as many as 100 million poods (1 pood = 16.38 kg) of grain alone passed through Rybinsk every year. Light industry and a shipbuilding industry developed in Rybinsk; the food industry included flour milling and vegetable-oil milling. In 1885 about 3,000 workers participated in a stevedores’ strike in Rybinsk. During the Revolution of 1905–07 there was a series of strikes in Rybinsk. Soviet power was established on Mar. 2, 1918.

Rybinsk is an important center of machine building. It has a shipyard, a printing plant, and plants that produce road machinery, motors, electrical equipment, cables, hydromechaniza-tion equipment, and woodworking machines. The food industry in Rybinsk is represented by milling, meat, and refrigerator combines, by a milk plant, by a confectionery factory, and by a plant that produces beer and nonalcoholic beverages. Rybinsk has a furniture and wood-products combine, the Maiak Match Factory, and plants that produce plastic goods, leather, and optical glass. It is the site of a 330-megawatt hydroelectric power plant. It has an aviation technology institute, aviation and printing technicums, medical and pedagogical schools, and a school for river navigation. Rybinsk has a drama theater, a puppet theater, a historical museum, and an art museum.