Khabarovsk
In 1893 the city officially received the name Khabarovsk. At that time commercial activities developed very fast. Khabarovsk becomes the biggest trading center on the Amur. Many Russian-wide famous merchants started their business here – Plyusnins, Bogdanovs, Pyankovs. Gradually, beside delivering and selling goods many merchants began to organize manufacturing. When rich merchants came in construction developed because they needed a lot of buildings for effective business – from warehouses to private houses. A part of those buildings have remained intact to this day and are now being remodeled. Ones of the most outstanding of them are: the trading house of Pyankovs (near restaurant “Sapporo”), the trading house of Plyusnins (regional library), the commercial apartment building of Zandau (nowadays movie theater “Sokino”), the commercial apartment building of Arkhipovs (after remodeling – the building of Central Supermarket Store), the trading house “Kunst and Albers” (the Central Grocery Store) and many others.
At the same time Khabarovsk becomes the science center of the Far East. February 11 of 1894 the first meeting of the Amur River Region department of the Emperor’s geographical society was held which for a long time was the only institution that studied the nature and life of the region. Members of that society later opened a library and a museum, of which many famous residents of the city took care. Cultural life was also not far behind: the first Khabarovsk’s newspaper was released – “The Amur River Region News”, in the autumn there appeared the first theater in the city which introduced six plays during its first theatrical season. The system of education was also developing: in 1895 a technical railway specialized school was opened. The reason for this was that in the Far East there was a boom of railway construction. In 1897 a railway between Khabarovsk and Vladivostok was opened. It took 48 hours for the first train to arrive.
The population of the city largely increased. By the end of the 19th century the population of the city was more than 15,000 people. The city grew bigger. To relive the work of the municipal institutions in the year 1900 a telephone connection between them was installed. In the same year a non-classical secondary school was opened. Approximately at the same time a decision was made to construct a new temple on the site of the old church of Innokenty. It was built on the means offered by famous merchants of the city and the residents’ contributions. Just like many churches in our country this temple’s future was very difficult but at the present time it is restored and being remodeled. By that time there already was one stone temple in Khabarovsk – Assumption Cathedral (it stood on the site of Komsomolskaya Square). Its destiny was sadder: it was leveled to the ground after the revolution. Later yet another stone temple was built which suffered the same fate – Alexy church (at the crossing of today’s Lenin Street and Volochaevskaya Street).