Serdobinskaya

Serdobinskaya Sloboda was founded on the Serdoba River no later than 1699 by frontier watchmen from the Penza district. Its settlers guarded the forests along the Khopyor that supplied timber for Peter I's ships, as well as keeping watch on Russia's southeastern frontier. The ploughing soldiers built a church of the Archangel Michael, giving the settlement the alternative name Arkhangelskoye. Between 1710 and 1717 newcomers arrived from the provinces of Kazan, Voronezh, Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, adding to the village of forest guards.