St. Petersburg Partnership for the Production of Glukhoozersky Portland Cement and Other Building Materials

Description

At the end of the XIX century, the rapid development of industry and the construction of new factories demanded more and more cement. The development of cement production was facilitated by the invention of rotary kilns for the production of high-quality cement. Cement production arose near the location of raw materials – lime deposits.

In the mid-1890s, two Petersburgers arrived in the city of Volsk in the Saratov province – Colonel Pomerantsev and mining engineer Antipin. They were attracted by the opportunity to profitably acquire nine acres of land, consisting of limestone, chalk and clay, ideally suited for the production of Portland cement. In 1896, they convinced the shareholders of the St. Petersburg partnership “I. Thomson, T. Bona and Co., which had existed since 1879, to invest in the future of cement production.

The joint-stock company was named “St. Petersburg Partnership for the Production of Glukhoozersky Portland Cement and Other Building Materials.” In the same year, permission was obtained from the Volsk City Council for the construction of a cement plant, which required large investments. The plant was built without the use of mechanization, without additional technical means, but the construction was successfully completed within a year.

The fixed capital of the partnership was 6,000,000 rubles, divided into 60,000 shares of 100 rubles each.

The cement produced was of very high quality, and in 1908, at the international construction and art exhibition, the partnership received a prestigious award “for the excellent setting of cement production.” Inspired by the successes of the Glukhoozersky partnership at the beginning of the 20th century. 3 more cement plants were created – one upstream of the city along the river, like the Glukhoozersky Portland cement plant, and two below.

Of course, the environmental component of production left much to be desired. The fact is that the air around cement production is filled with a large amount of dust, which settles on all surfaces, forming a thick coating. Also, a distinctive feature of the cement production is the huge cement storage silos located on the banks of the Volga. And at the beginning of the twentieth century, cement was stored in barrels. Another distinctive feature of cement production is the quarry. The Glukhoozersky partnership has a large quarry, with a diameter of 1.5 km. On the opposite side of the plant adjoins the pier on the Volga.

In 1913, the fixed capital of the St. Petersburg Association for the Production of Glukhoozersky Portland Cement and Other Building Materials was increased to 9 million rubles. by issuing an additional 30 thousand shares distributed among existing participants.

During the difficult years of the First World War, the plant experienced a decline in production and financial difficulties. And during the period of Soviet power, after nationalization, the Glukhoozersky Portland cement plant was renamed the Bolshevik plant, and next to it, the plant located in the upper industrial zone was renamed Kommunar (the former Saratov joint-stock company, established in 1911). They continue to work to this day. In the lower industrial zone there were the Komsomolets plant (the former plant of JSC Asserin, built in 1911) and Krasny Oktyabr (the former plant of Pligin and Seifert, built in 1903). They were closed.

In the 1990s, the Bolshevik plant was corporatized and renamed Volskcement JSC, which in 2014 became part of the Swiss holding Holcim, the world leader in the production of building materials.(Source: CentroCredit Bank website; authors: Tsvetkova Elena Alexandrovna, Tsvetkov Vasily Zhanovich)