While traveling along the line connecting Astrakhan and Volgograd, you
may notice, after about one hundred or so kilometers, that over the
overgrown brush and prairie the horizon of a small town to begins to
appear. This town is Znamensk, city of rocketry specialists.
During the first year of existence, the city grew very slowly. Most of the building materials were mainly used for various launching facilities of rockets. But even so people understood that they had the task of defending their country. The first residents for rocketry specialists were manly dugouts, tents and at the very best, in a village near by, mud/clay huts.
Houses, a barracks, office buildings have been started in 1951 only. Names of the first streets in the city speak about much: Field, New, Steppe, Tatar, Artillery. Every year houses had been completing, constructed up to date of that time projects. Made of stone houses with two floors became determining in architecture of city of 50-60 years.
The hard work and perseverance of the towns
people gradually came into accomplishment in Kapustin Yar. Street of
green grass and thousands of planted tress's surrounded parks, houses,
barracks and soldiers dining rooms. Each inhabitant from the solders
and first year
student, to the general, elderly and retired, each had their own personal
tree to look after and maintain.
As the city grew from year
to year-new development were added. Apartment houses, hotels shops officers
privet quotes, cinemas, cafes and restaurants were popping up everywhere.
In 1962 the small town of
Znamensk clamed the title of City, with a mailing post of Kapustin Yar-1.
The founders of the town, Voznjuk
Vasily Ivanovich and Edsky Leonid Pavlovich were the general and mayor,
respectively.
The work of city officials and administrators basically consisted in
the development and expansion
of well being of the inhabitants of the town..
At the end of the 1980's the city began to put up new housing, a new
district was formed and as a comic relief was named "prostokvashino".
On July 14, 1992 the city
of Znamensk received a closed administrative-territorial status in the
region of Astrakhan. On December 8, 1996 the elected representation
authority - city representation Assembly in structure of 11 deputies
and agency of authority - Administration ZATO. The Charter closed administratively
- territorial education of October
25, 1996 is registered Znamensk.
Being a young city, the arithmetic mean for an inhabitant
is 35 years of age, there for a third of the population is children.
Special care and education there for is provided by the administrative
in the
area, thus giving parents the freedom to work.
For the smallest city dwellers, 21-day care areas were set up caring
for about 3000 of them. On September 1st the school doors open letting
in 6,500 pupils from grades 1-11. The oldest out of the available 6
schools was the N232.
In 1992 began
the creation of the youngest school, school N236. Vladimir Il'ich Korotkov
has turned this school from an everyday school to a prestigious school
of higher learning (temple of knowledge).
Among the different constructions
the hospital complex is allocated with severity and silence. The military
hospital, the oldest medical institution where today it is possible
to receive all kinds of the qualified medical aid uses commonly. For
this purpose there is qualified medical personnel with a wide range
experience and appropriate technical maintenance. Simultaneously the
hospital can with hold hospitalization for more than 500 persons, unlike
the city hospital, that can hold up to 350 hospitalizations. Despite
of rather heavy financial
problems of the city, new constructions in the city hospital, of the
food curt and laundry room have begun. The military hospital has fine
farms, which enable a variety of food to feed patients.
The attention and a problem of rest of city
dwellers Is paid. The sports complex is accepted daily more than 500
person. In well equipped halls of struggle, heavy athletics, game, gymnastic
- any interested person can be engaged in the kind of sports grown fond
to it(him) freely. In pool of a complex always it is populous. In stadium
competitions on track and field athletics and noisy football fights
will be carried out(spent). On open volleyball and basketball platforms,
tennis courts at any time year is not present lack of visitors.
To
enrich the lives of the city people, the city built a sports complex,
which serves more than 500 people everyday. It is well equipped with,
a fighting/wrestling room, and heavy athletics, game, gymnastic any
sport one may desire to engage in. In the complex the pool is always
popular. The stadium also has a track and field for various athletics,
for noisy football battles. When open the volleyball/basketball platforms
and tennis courts never have a lack of visitor.
Few years back a new digital city automatic telephone exchange came
from the company Siemens. The city is inside one of cells of a cellular
telephone grid of
standard GSM-900. In the last few years a satellite TVstation was opened.
The history of the military
base and the city areintertwined. This is very evident in the naming
of streets: Voznyuk, Yangel, Korolyov, Nilovskiy, the
Square of Veterans, in V.I. Voznjuk and S.P. Korolyov monuments..
The city inhabitants
are very proud of the history behind them and serve there city well
in helping out veterans and all those who help built this original
city, from a small steppe territory on a lonely prairie to a modern
and sophisticated rocket complex.