Melekess

Melekess grew beside the Melekesska in the wooded country east of the Volga, near the Bolshoy Cheremshan. Chuvash and Russian villages bearing the name stood in the district, and distilleries appeared along the small river in the eighteenth century. The works of several merchants were brought under state administration in 1767, forming the Melekess state distillery. Workers and traders settled around the enterprise, creating a new centre among the older rural communities.