Kalach

Kalach stands on the chalk uplands at the meeting of the Podgornaya and Tolucheyevka rivers. The surrounding country formed part of the Russian southern frontier, where watchmen guarded against raids from the steppe. A settlement existed here by the early eighteenth century, and in 1716 military settlers from the Ostrogozhsk regiment established the sloboda of Kalach at the confluence. By 1780 the settlement had 637 households, two churches, shops and six watermills. Its name has been associated with a pronounced bend in the river, recalling the shape of a round loaf. From the late eighteenth century a large annual grain fair brought buyers and sellers to Kalach, reflecting the growth of agriculture in a district once marked by frontier outposts.