Shadrinsk

Shadrinsk stands on the Iset, a tributary of the Tobol, east of the Ural Mountains. The town grew from a fortified settlement on a steep bank where pine forest approached the river. Its position on the Iset made it an important centre among the Russian settlements that spread across the Trans-Ural region.

In 1662 Yuri Malechkin, known as Yushka Solovey, received permission to establish Shadrinskaya Sloboda at an earlier homestead. Settlers were invited to build a fort and cultivate land for the state. The settlement grew rapidly, becoming one of the largest in western Siberia by the 1680s. In the eighteenth century it became a town and served as the first administrative centre of the Iset province. Its early history reflects the growth of agriculture and fortified settlements along the river.