History
The foundation of Cherepovets is traditionally ascribed to two orthodox monks Feodosy and Afanasy. In 1362, they founded the Cherepovets Resurrection Monastery, in the vicinity of which a small village of Fedosyevo was founded. Historians consider the former village of Fedosyevo to be in the center of modern Cherepovets. Several centuries were needed to develop the small village into a prominent trade, manufacturing, and regional transportation center. Cherepovets was granted city status in 1777 by Catherine the Great and became the center of a separate uyezd in the administrative structure of the Novgorod Governorate.
The construction of the Mariinsk canal system in 1810 made a significant impact on the development of the city. The Mariinsk Canal System connected Cherepovets with the Volga River to the south and the Baltic Sea to the west. At that time, the city was still at a very early stage of development with a population of 3000 residents by 1863. For a long time, the city brickworks with seven workers was the sole industrial enterprise in Cherepovets.
The development of the city became more dynamic after Emancipation Reform happened in 1861 and the appearance of the shipbuilding industry. The city soon became a prominent shipbuilding and logistics center connecting major regional railways and waterways. The population had grown to 10,000 by 1915.
After the revolution, in March 1918, eastern uyezds of the Novgorod Governorate were renamed to separate Cherepovets Governorate centered around Cherepovets. The new governorate existed for less than 10 years. In 1927, it was merged with Leningrad, Novgorod, Pskov, and Murmansk Governorates into a single Leningrad Oblast. In September 1937, most of the former Cherepovets Governorate territories (except for Tikhvin district) were transferred to the newly established Vologda Oblast.
The subsequent development of the city is closely related to the completion of the construction of the Cherepovets steel mill (now known as Severstal) in 1955, the second-largest in the country. Unlike the majority of the most important metallurgy centers in the former Soviet Union, the location of the future steel plant was selected far away from the actual mineral resources and deposits. The reason for that was the logistic advantage of having a well-developed infrastructure that allowed connection of the north and northwest of the country by rail, road, and waterways into a single operation system. It connected such remote mining centers as Vorkuta and Olenegorsk, Murmansk Oblast.
The rapid growth of the industry center drastically changed the city, and by the early 1960s, its population exceeded 100,000 residents (three times bigger than the pre-World War II population). By 1970, Cherepovets had become the most populated city in Vologda Oblast.
