Local Administration of the town of Dubossary and Dubossary district

The town of Dubossary is situated on the left bank of the Dniester. The settlement existed under Turkish dominion already. For instance, a town major was appointed by the Turkish sultan and he was obliged to give a certain sum of money to the Crimean khan who was a governor of the region. The left-bank Pridnestrovian lands were ruled by Tartars. Dubossary was mentioned among large Moldavian villages in the 18-th century.
Dubossary was also mentioned when Ochakovo district joined up with Russia, i.e. before the influx of population between the end of the 18-th century and the beginning of the 19-th century. In 1774 Russian troops were here during the Russian-Turkish war. Dubossary uyezd (an administrative unit) consisted of 13 settlements: Koshnitsa, Pererytoye, Pogrebeny, Kuchiery, Korzheva, Malovatoye, Gayany, Dorotskoye, Delakeu, Butory, Speya, Teya and Dubossary. 596 Moldavians, 3 Armenians, 7 Gypsies, 41 Jews lived there. The number of population increased at the expense of natural growth and immigrants.
When Ochakovo district joined up with Russia as a result of the Russian-Turkish war a lot of people settled at that territory. Towns Dubossary, Grigoriopol, Tiraspol arose there later.
Dubossary was founded in 1792. It was marked as New Dubossary (in contradistinction to Old Dubossary, Bessarabian province). In 1795 the town joined up with Tiraspol district according to the Decree of the Empress Ekaterina II. In 1796 Dubossary joined up with Novorussian guberniya (province).
Dubossary is older than Tiraspol. The governor Kahovsky sent reports on affairs in new lands from Dubossary to Empress in St. Petersburg. In his report (on April 17, 1792) Kahovsky informed about “the small town Dubossary consisting of 331 families on the left bank of the river Dniester.”
Apparently there was a governor headquarters there; all high officials came there. The archpriest Strelbitsky was allowed to open a printing-house for printing books in Greek, Russian, Moldavian and others. Engineers from St.Petersburg were sent here to build fortresses. Armenian archbishop Josef who visited Dubossary consecrated the place of laying the town of Grigoriopol.
General Kahovsky suggested to found a new town in new lands. He wrote in his report of September 21, 1792: “I believe that a chief town should first be founded in Dubossary… The place is known not only to Poland and Moldavia, but to inhabitants of distant places… It has favourable conditions for gardening and wine-growing; for transporting timber from Moldavia, Poland and Galicia; there is pure water in wells and an abundant spring here; the town could be provided with water…
Besides, if Your Majesty likes to establish customs and quarantine of goods in the town it will multiply the number of manufacturers and merchants.”
A military hospital and a shop, jails were built in Dubossary. As for the customs and quarantine station, they were really established. Dubossary town governor Captain Tsvetinovich Dmitry was marked in the report of Grand Duke Zubov Platon Aleksandrovich (who replaced Kahovsky in 1793) among other officials, who took part in construction and fortification of new towns.
In the middle of the 19-th century a quarantine station arose to the south of Dubossary. It was founded in place of a quarantine station established after the integration of Ochakovo district into Russia with a view to prevent epidemics. A settlement Quarantine remained there after the abolition of the quarantine line. Moldavian, Russian and Ukrainian peasants, retired soldiers, petty bourgeois lived there. In the second half of the 19-th century it became the part of Dubossary.
After the annexation of new lands to Russia according to Decree of the Empress Ekaterina II uyezds and towns were determined, including the town of Dnestrovsk in Dubossary. In boundary towns, including Dubossary, posts of local officials were established. It was even planned to transfer the governor of the fortress in Rostov to Dubossary.
Dubossary was presented in the list of settlements of Hersonskaya gubernia in the following way: “Dubossary (New Dubossary) is an unimportant town on the river Dniester that is rich in springs. The town is isolated from the river by flats covered with gardens. In the North the town mingles with the village Magalai and in the South – with the village Lunga. The town consists of three parts: the town, Small Fountain (north-east) and Large Fountain (east). Jews and Russians live in the town, Moldavians live in the south and Ukrainians live in Large and Small Fountains”. The town was settled by representatives of different nationalities; it was conditioned by the governmental policy of colonizing new lands.
In 1795 the number of the population in Dubossary and neighbouring villages was 1 337 people. Different sources inform that Moldavians were the first settlers. Bagalei also wrote: “Moldavians occupies an important position among foreign colonists. They moved during the reign of the empress Elizaveta… Another group of Moldavians founded towns and settlements on the river Dniester… (including New Dubossary). 2 114 people lived in Dubossary in 1799.”
The purposeful emigration policy of the government together with spontaneous migrations of Russians and Ukrainians (most of them were fugitives) played a vital part in development of new lands.
A small group of Old Believers had lived in this territory before Dubossary was founded. They came from Kurskaya, Voronezhskaya, Podolskaya gubernia. They united into Great Russian association. In 1858 there were 88 members there.
“The boundaries of three states (Russia, Austria and Turkey) were near, so it gave an opportunity of unpunished smuggling; and a great number of Jews came to Dubossary. The town has mingled with some villages, so it constitutes a Jewish town in the Christian settlement. 6 000 dwellers live in the town (1877).”
In his report to the empress Kahovsky informs:
“…on my arrival to Dubossary I found merchants there… there were 30 Armenians and two Jews there…”
A lot of Bulgarians were settling there after the conclusion of Yassky Peace (1801-1812). “In 1804 so many Bulgarians came here from Turkey; and the Monarch ordered to take immediate measures for building houses and rendering assistance to them.” The total number of the population of Dubossary exceeded 12 000 people in 1897. There were Christians (55%) and Jews (44%) among them. At the beginning of the 20-th century Dubossary was an important town on the left bank of the Dniester with a population of 13 600 people.
The people who lived in Dubossary were rather pious. There were two Christian churches there (All Saints Church founded in 1797 by a priest Ioann Terentovsky and Greek church built by a Greek man).
The Assumption Church (or Cathedral, priest Aleksander Borshakov), the Church of the Ascension (priest George Verdin) founded in 1804 and a chapel of Old Believers were mentioned.
The new district became the part of Novorossisky region; it was under Ekaterinoslavskaya eparchy. This town had always been a center of Christian church. In 1782 a priest Nedritsky was appointed the archpriest of a local church by the metropolitan Kirill. The Clergy Board was established on August 19, 1793. Priests of Dubossary Assumption Cathedral were appointed by present clergymen. Filofey Vladovich was appointed the senior priest of the Cathedral. After his death he was replaced by the archpriest Ioann Glizhinsky who was transferred to Tiraspol in 1798.
In 1799 2114 people lived in New Dubossary. There were 440 dwelling-houses and 6 shops in the town. According to “The Description of Novorossiyskaya gubernia in 1799” three families were engaged in wholesale trade (annual turnover was 1500 rubles) and 60 families were engaged in retail trade (annual turnover – 1000 rubles). One of the first vodka-making factories started functioning in 1809. Merchants from Dubossary brought wine and groceries and exported wool, oil and flax. Many people settled as foreign subjects in the principality for a while, selling “Turkish goods”, handicrafts and wine. There were 28 foreign subjects in Moldavia in 1808.
Dubossary dwellers were mostly engaged in farming, gardening, market-gardening, tobacco-growing. Local tobacco-growers grew a special “Dubossary” sort of tobacco. A main tobacco sale center was established in Dubossary. Tobacco was brought from Dubossary district where almost 600 hectares were under crops to Tiraspol tobacco factory.
While describing the economic development of the region, researchers marked Dubossary gardens. The economic development of Dubossary was based on sale of wine and Dubossary tobacco. Timber was floated from upper reaches of the Dniester; some wooden barges were unloaded in Dubossary.
A great number of the population was engaged in trading. In 1862 there were 50 merchants, 97 shops, 4 hotels and 7 coaching inns. Three fairs were established (St. George’s – April 23; The Assumption - August 15; St. Luke’s – October 14). Markets functioned every day.
In the ’60-s of the 19-th century there were two tallow-melting factories, a brickworks, 6 candle-making factories, an oil-mill and 3 tanneries in the town. The overall production was almost 20 000 rubles a year.
Some town dwellers had to leave the town to earn their living. In 1862 205 “absence” passports were given to 3 merchants and 171 town-dwellers.
In 1897 the industry and trade of Dubossary were represented by 2 steam mills, 10 windmills, an oil-mill, an artificial mineral water enterprise, 8 cooperages, 12 metal workshops, 19 joiner’s workshops, 15 wheel workshops, 36 forgers, 2 wholesale warehouses of tobacco, 3 local warehouses, 116 shops, 3 wholesale warehouses of wine and spirit, 32 wine-cellars, 15 inns, 12 pubs.
The town was developing at great rate. The town capital was 3 578 rubles. The expenditure for the town office was 5 000 rubles; 991 rubles were spent for educational institutions. The town governor (Korotenko M.D.) was at the head of the town Public board; the police-officer – Demkovich P.A. was at the head of the police. The post office functioned in the town. There was a municipal one-year school (128 boys and 33 girls); a parish school (20 boys and 3 girls); two private schools (40 girls) at the end of the century. In 1911 the town school was reorganized into the four-year school. The two-year parish school headed by Tseihel G. was open. The parish one-year school was headed by Lehomtseva U. The newspaper “Dniestrovian region” informed on February 11, 1913: “The scarlet fever is raging near Dubossary. 20 children were ill”. There was a lack of financial support of educational and health institutions. There was a hospital for 22 patients, a Jewish hospital for ten patients, a chemist’s shop and a veterinary hospital in the town.
Different public organizations and committees were functioning in Dubossary at that time.
The town was extending and changing. Prosperous dwellers built stone houses.
Some famous scientists visited Dubossary. They were an outstanding surgeon Sklifosovsky who introduced septic and antiseptic principles into the medicine; an outstanding doctor and epidemiologist Samoilovich D.S. who struggled against the plague epidemic in the South, including Dubossary.
Dubossary had been a provincial town for a long time. Its development had finally stopped after the foundation and development of Tiraspol, Odessa and Herson. Dubossary was far away from the main post road…

Dubossary district is the main administrative unit of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. It is situated in the central part of the republic on the left bank of the river Dniester. It borders upon Rybnitsa and Grigoriopol districts of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, the Republic of Moldova and the Ukraine.
It was established on October 12, 1924. There is a town of the republican subordination and 10 rural Soviets with 21 settlements.
The area of the district is 381, 2 sq m, including Dubossary – 15, 52 sq m
The number of the population is 45 700 people, including Dubossary – 28 500 people
Nationalities:
Moldavians – 68,6%
Ukrainians – 17,1%
Russians – 12,3%
People of other nationalities: Jews, Armenians, Bulgarians, Byelorussians live here.
458 enterprises and organizations are registered in the town:
138 state enterprises;
143 companies, ltd.;
63 private companies;
9 production cooperative societies;
1 kolkhoz;
2 enterprises of consumers’ cooperatives;
46 public organizations;
3 joint companies with foreign investments;
31 filiations;
2 non-commercial partnerships;
35 inoperative enterprises.

Dubossary district is mostly agricultural.
Power engineering is represented by Dubossary hydro-electric power-station, Eastern power network, and local power network.
Construction is represented by state companies “Commercial Repair and Construction Company”and “Repair and Construction Company”, “Dubossary highways department”; private companies “Dubossary- Raigorstroi” and “Dubossary Repair and Construction Board”, limited companies “Marso”, “Lukrum”, “AMIO”, “Dikekstroi”.
Light industry:
- State company “Dubossary garment factory”
- Dubossary filiation of the industrial association “Tirasplastmass”
Machine-building:
- Dubossary machine plant.

Limited companies “Dubossary-gas” and “AMIO” and a municipal company “Dubossary-Raigorstroi” are engaged in gas-supply.
162, 3 km of gas-mains (high-pressure gas pipe lines – 52, 77 km; middle-pressure gas pipe lines – 52, 93 km; low-pressure gas pipe lines – 57, 93 km) were put into operation.
13 475 flats and dwelling houses were supplied with gas.
The agricultural and industrial complex includes 9 state companies, 8 production cooperative societies, a kolkhoz and 13 enterprises of processing industry and consumer service. The average number of people engaged in the agriculture and industry is 3 900 people.
The area of farming lands is 25 600 hectares. The area under perennials is 2 136 hectares, including gardens – 1477 hectares and vineyards – 474 hectares.
The area of sewage-farming lands is 10 600 hectares.
There is a central district hospital, a district clinic, a dentist’s center, a center of hygiene and epidemiology, rural hospitals of villages Doibany and Tsybulevka, health centers at local enterprises. 110 doctors and 320 nurses are engaged in public health system.
There are 9 local and 2 town Palaces of Culture, 8 clubs, 19 libraries (5 municipal and 14 local), a museum of local lore, history and economy, musical and arts schools for children in Dubossary and Dubossary district.
The system of public education is represented by 44 educational institutions (over 10 000 children study there):
- 20 secondary schools,
- 16 kindergartens,
- 4 establishments of adult education;
- 1 municipal vocational Lyceeum.
The center of preparatory training for senior pupils is functioning in the town.
The total number of pupils is 5 313 (3 306 – in the town, 2 007 – in villages).
The total number of preschoolers is 1 476 (1 053 – in town, 423 – in villages). 2 288 people attend adult educational institutions. There are 40 orphans in Dubossary and Dubossary district.
There are 10 596 pensioners there. (6 313 pensioners, 2 658 disabled pensioners and 1 302 working pensioners.

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Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, Dubossary, Dzerzhinskaya Street, 8
Phone: 373 545 35332, 373 545 33742, 373 545 33454;Fax: 373 545 35332