Posyolok Instrumentalny (originally simply Instrument) — a workers' settlement in the southwestern part of Leninsky District of Nizhny Novgorod, which arose in the 1930s. The name is connected with the products of the nearby enterprises where its residents worked. The settlement was among those that on February 21, 1935, were merged to form Leninsky District of the City of Gorky.[1][2]
The settlements that the district grew from
Leninsky District was established by a resolution of the Gorky Krai Committee of the VKP(b) and the Krai Executive Committee on February 21, 1935; at that time approximately 49,000 people lived there and thirteen industrial enterprises were in operation, including Dvigatel Revolyutsii ("Engine of Revolution") and Krasnaya Etna.[1][2] The district's map incorporated the workers' settlements of Gvozdilny, Instrumentalny, Kavkaz, Kostina, Metallist, Pervomayка, Molitovka, and Shuvalovo — each one tied to its own production facility.[2]
The historic villages of these parts — Molitovka, Borzovka, Karpovka, and Kavkaz — have been known since the 16th–17th centuries, but Instrumentalny does not belong to their number: it grew up during Soviet-era industrialization.[1]
Nearby production
The industrial core of this part of the district was formed by the Gorky Milling Machine Plant. The foundation stone of its main building was laid on June 3, 1930, in the presence of a delegation from the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), headed by Supreme Council of the National Economy chairman Valerian Kuibyshev; production began on December 23, 1931, and on May 1, 1932, the first five Soviet knee-type milling machines were produced.[3][4]
The plant was built to a German design as one of 518 enterprises commissioned under the industrialization program.[4] In 1936, a unique 35-ton machine for processing components of the Moscow Metro was manufactured here; between 1941 and 1945 — under the name State Plant No. 113 — the facility produced tank parts and PPSh submachine gun components; and from 1967 onward it manufactured numerically controlled machine tools.[2][3]
The enterprise was later known as the Gorky Machine-Tool Production Association, then as "ZeFS" and "ZFS"; machine-tool production at the site ceased following bankruptcies in 2006 and 2008.[3]
Development
Housing for workers was built quickly and simply: in the 1930s the buildings of the milling machine plant rose on this territory alongside new barrack-type housing, while nearby the first log-built houses, a Lenin Palace of Culture, libraries, hospitals, shops, and schools were constructed.[1]
The barrack and wooden residential blocks have survived to the present day and are gradually disappearing. In 2026, within the boundaries of Pravdy, Chongarskaya, and Mendeleev Streets, the resettlement and demolition of nine dilapidated two-story wooden apartment buildings and a garage complex began; on a plot of 1.84 hectares, a residential complex of five sections ranging from nine to fifteen stories tall and comprising 330 apartments is under construction.[5] By August 2026, 39 families had relocated from the old housing stock.[5]
People are being given the opportunity to move into modern, comfortable housing — often with an increase in floor area.
Dates
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 3 June 1930 | the main building of the Gorky Milling Machine Plant was laid[3] |
| 23 December 1931 | the milling machine plant went into operation[2][3] |
| 1 May 1932 | the first five Soviet milling machines were produced[3] |
| 1930s | the Instrumentalny settlement takes shape; barrack-type housing is built[1] |
| 21 February 1935 | Leninsky District is formed, with the Instrumentalny settlement included within it[1][2] |
| 1936 | a 35-tonne machine for the Moscow Metro is manufactured at the plant[2] |
| 1941–1945 | the plant operates as State Plant No. 113[3] |
| 1967 | production of numerically controlled machine tools begins[2] |
| 2006–2008 | machine-tool production ceases[3] |
| 2026 | demolition of dilapidated wooden housing and construction of a new residential complex[5] |
See also
Sources
- V gorode N — Leninsky District of Nizhny Novgorod: history and archival photos (November 2, 2025) (archive)
- leninskiraion14.blogspot.com — "The District Dear to My Heart" — Chronicle of Leninsky District (archive)
- stanki-katalog.ru — Stanki-katalog — Gorky Milling Machine Plant (GZFS) (archive)
- stanok-kpo.ru — Stanochnyy Mir — Gorky Milling Machine Plant (ZFS, ZEFS, Nizhny Novgorod Milling Machine Plant) (archive)
- V gorode N — A second life for workers' quarters: how Leninsky District of Nizhny Novgorod is being reborn (August 27, 2026) (archive)