The time of the initial founding of Kremenchuk is unknown. Karamzin in the history of the reign of Ivan the Terrible in 1556 mentions that Danila Adashev, with 8000 troops, boarded boats near the village of Kremenchuk, boats built by him and in these then uninhabited places went down to the mouth of the Dnieper and landed on Taurida, which he then devastated for more than two weeks. (In the Novorossiysk calendar for 1841, this first campaign of the Moscow troops under the command of Prince Adashev from Kremenchuk to Ochakov and from there to Perekop is dated to 1559.)
There is also a legend that once upon a time, a very long time ago, the fisherman “Flint” lived here, who gave the city its name, but this is just a legend. Rather, it can be assumed that Kremenchuk is a corrupted name “Kermenchik”, and the Tatars had a lot of Kermenchiks, and even now the names of some of the already deserted fortifications are still preserved. Keppen in the description of the antiquities of the southern coast, claims that Kremenchuk near the Dnieper got its name from the word Kremenchik. Kalmyks still call the city of Cherkasy – Kermen. Ker means upland or hillock. Karamzin (vol. VIII) often uses the words Kremenchik instead of Kermenchik.
Beauplan, in his description, calls Kremenchuk a beautiful and livable city. In 1635 he was appointed to build a castle in Kremenchuk.
In 1663, the Cossacks who lived in Kremenchuk, not wanting to have Bryukhovetsky as Hetman, rebelled. Bryukhovetsky opposed them with an army and Kremenchuk was burned for the resistance of the inhabitants.
In 1665, on the basis of the Moscow Articles, delivered with Bryukhovetsky, a royal governor was appointed in Kremenchuk with an army of 300 people. and at the beginning of the 18th century, it was the hundredth place of the Mirgorod regiment. Through Kremenchuk, merchants selling Turkish goods were distributed, namely from the Crimea, Ochakov and Kinburg, and in 1754 customs were approved in Kremenchuk.
In 1761, the inhabitants of Kremenchuk sent deputies to St. Petersburg with a request for permission to join the then newly opened Novorossiysk province. The request was followed by the Supreme Resolution on September 6 of the same year.
In 1765, according to the report of Lieutenant General Melgunov, a provincial office was established in Kremenchuk, and the city itself was appointed provincial of the Novorossiysk province.
At this time, houses were built in the city for the governor, the provincial office, and other government offices. For the education of youth, a city school, a school for noble orphans, and philistine female children were established, and in addition to these institutions, a boarding school opened by the French citizen Frosar in 1778. (This boarding house was under the own supervision of the former governor Yazykov). Subsequently, an arms factory and a foundry were established. There were several settlements in the places closest to the Russian border in Poland, inhabited by schismatics and Old Believers who fled at different times, and were granted various privileges and granted the right to return to Russia and settle in the newly discovered Novorossiysk province. Many of these immigrants settled in Kremenchuk and were joined by others from Moldova and Turkey.
In 1780 and in subsequent years, Kremenchuk saw the most famous commanders of that time: Rumyantsev, Potemkin and Suvorov. Potemkin chose Kremenchuk as his residence and arranged for himself a palace, a garden and a grove.
Around 1782, the former Novorossiysk province in Kremenchuk was transferred to Poltava, and in 1783 the Novorossiysk Territory received the name of the Yekaterinoslav vicarage and Kremenchuk was assigned to it as a county town.
Soon afterwards, Kremenchuk witnessed both the joy and grief of the great commander Suvorov. The building was located here, over which he was given command in 1786. he went to court when he fell into the throes of the strong and dangerous temporary worker Potemkin.
The year 1787 is remarkable for Kremenchuk by the visit of Empress Catherine II. Departing on April 22 from Kyiv in galleys, accompanied by the closest retinue,
Visits of Catherine II to Kremenchug
the empress arrived in Kremenchuk on 30 April. Here, on the banks of the Dnieper, triumphal gates were built with the inscription “To the revivalist of this Land.” Before 12,000 troops under arms met her. Not far from the apartment assigned to her, Other triumphal gates were arranged. the empress stayed in the magnificently decorated Palace, which had a garden arranged in the English style (which is now urban). were brought there from different places: orange, laurel and other orangery plants and trees (the Palace built by Potemkin burned to the ground in 1788, and the garden called “Knyazhy” was transferred to the city in 1798 since the land occupied by the garden belonged to the city. ) Balls, dinners were given in this garden, and every day there was a magnificent illumination. From here, the Empress wrote to Moscow to Commander-in-Chief Eropkin: “In the local province, work and diligence are palpable, which is very pleasant.” The empress stayed in Kremenchuk until May 3, then set off on the same galleys to the Dnieper rapids.
The conquest of Ochakov is memorable for Kremenchuk, except for an unusually harsh winter, followed by sweat
flood in 1789. This event was noticed on one of the huge nuggets of stone – sandstone not far from the resin area.
At the suggestion of Prince Potemkin, on June 1, 1789, the Highest Command on the transfer of the county to Gradizhsk and the transfer of Kremenchuk to the Gradizh district followed. The same year, in August, the provincial administration was transferred to the newly built Yekaterinoslav.
In 1766, during the destruction of the Yekaterinoslav governorate, Kremenchuk was assigned to the Little Russian province in 1797 it was made a port city, and in 1802, when the Little Russian province was divided into Chernihiv and Poltava, it was assigned to the latter.
On the banks of the Dnieper to the west of the current cathedral church – there was a fortress in Kremenchuk, probably built by Beauplan, surrounded by an earthen rampart and a moat. Near the coast, there was a small citadel. The fortress looked like an irregular polygon, stretching 400 sazhens in length to the slope or wine square (there is now a city square on the square), and 180 sazhens in width from the cathedral square to the Dnieper, it contained up to 30 acres of land. There were two churches in it, one of the iconostases is located in the current cathedral church. All the places present and the houses of serving officials were also placed there, other philistine houses were outside the fortress. Now there is practically nothing left of her.
The settlement of Kryukov attached to Kremenchuk was originally inhabited by people from different places who inhabited Novoserbia. With the establishment of the Novorossiysk province from Novoserbia in 1764, Kryukov was ranked among them as the county town of the Elizavetgrad province. When renaming the Novorossiysk province into the Yekaterinoslav vicarage, Kryukov was assigned to this vicarage, and in 1796, on August 28, by personal command, he was assigned to Kremenchuk. At the end of 1798, when Kremenchuk was separated from the Little Russian province and the Yekaterinoslav vicarage was destroyed, Kryukov was assigned to the Novorossiysk province, then in 1801 to the Yekaterinoslav province, and on June 23, 1803, by a personal decree, the Kryukov settlement was ordered to be subordinated to the department of the Kremenchuk city police, leaving it dependent court and reprisals in the Yekaterinoslav province. After he was ranked among the Kherson provinces. Finally, on May 17, 1817, by the highest approved position of the Committee of Ministers, Kryukov was attached to the Poltava province in all parts of the administration.
In Kremenchuk and Kryukov, no ancient historical monuments have been preserved and there are not even any buildings that have existed since the 18th century. So the oldest can be considered the building of the City Duma, built in 1801, as well as the Cathedral-Assumption Church, construction began in 1801, the plan and facade of which were recognized by Emperor Alexander I “by grace and taste, very worthy of approval.” This church was built partly at the expense of the city, and partly at the expense of private individuals and allowances sent from cities that at that time were under the control of the Little Russian governor-general Prince Kurakin. The entire area now occupied by the cathedral church, the square and the places present was built up with philistine courtyards, which were demolished and replaced with other city places. The current Church of the Transfiguration was built by the inhabitants on the site of a dilapidated church of the same name, for which, as can be seen from the papers, “permission was asked for by a spiritual command.” The place occupied by this church was acquired by the city from the treasury in 1800.
The Jewish element, which currently makes up almost a large half of the population of Kremenchuk, as can be seen from the surviving information, in the past century already inhabited Kremenchuk “in considerable numbers” and in 1780 they had a real estate here and a special “hospital” renamed in 1801 in hospital. By a decree of September 27, 1798, Jews were allowed to establish in Kremenchuk “kagal and admit them to city elections, and if the society agrees, then elect them to positions.”
In the recent past, the largest and most memorable events for Kremenchuk were the flood of 1845. And the fires of 1838, 1848-1853-1855. Ruined many residents to the point that the Government was forced to issue loans from the treasury for benefits with instalment payments for several years.
construction of a bridge across the Dnieper
Finally, with the construction of the railway through Kremenchuk in 1870 and the construction of an iron bridge across the Dnieper in 1872, Kremenchuk was given the opportunity to have a direct relationship with the capitals, Odesa and other commercial cities. The construction of these routes in the presence of navigation along the Dnieper, in addition to private conveniences and benefits, should be very important for the development of active trade in Kremenchuk and for the profitable sale of local products of the Dnieper region, which are quite rich in their natural products. In 1873, in Kremenchuk, the construction of artillery depots was started, which it is supposed to concentrate all the military supplies of the Odesa district. Thus, Kremenchuk turns out to be not only a commercial but also a strategic point. But at the same time, it is impossible not to pay attention and not to
regret that the Dnieper River, which represents so many amenities and benefits for trade, has been narrowing and shallowing more and more in recent years, and now more and more complaints are heard about the increase in spits and shallows, which impede steamship communication and timber rafting.
P.S. The translation from the Old Russian language tried to preserve the style of information transmission without changing the word, so the text contains Old Russian words in Cyrillic without translation.