Draft:History of Kremenchuk

Antiquity

A granite outcrop in Kremenchuk from the Precambrian era, which is used as a flood-level marking.

Settlement in the areas around Kremenchuk first began during the Pleistocene, as evidenced by remains such as mammoth and woolly rhinoceros bones recovered during excavations done in 1951-54. The excavations done during the 1950s were at the Malkokhnivka granite quarry, with a notable find being a mammoth tusk that was likely split by a human hand. However, it isn't until the Mesolithic era that there is proof of humans being in Kremenchuk as part of the Kukrets culture. Some of the more notable items traced to this period include a carved bone spear from deposits near the modern-day Silicate Brick Factory, which had notch marks and engravings on the point tip that might have been used in rituals during hunting. The closest analogue to it is the Ihren 8 site near Dnipro. Settlements from this era include "Komsomolska", which is near the village of Pidluzhne. During the subsequent Neolithic era, the settlement of Rakivka was founded within what is now Kriukivskyi District. Rakivka was found in 1930 with items such as flint scrapers and pottery, although the site would take on more importance once later surveys confirmed that Rakivka was used as a settlement during multiple eras from the Dnieper–Donets culture to the Chalcolithic to the Bronze Age. Surveys have also found many antler tools and a celt from the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture.

During the Bronze Age, modern-day Kremenchuk would still be populated at Rakivske, although other settlements would pop up, such as at Velyka Kokhnivka and Oleksandrivsky. In 2003, excavations done at Prydniprovsky City Park also found a settlement of the Sabatynivka culture that was a semi-subterranean dwelling from around the 2nd millennium. Into the early Iron Age, the area was populated by the Cimmerians, which is evidenced by bronze cheek-pieces whhich was probably associated with an elite warrier was found in Molodizhnyi alongside later swords and picks. The area was then populated by the Zarubintsy culture, who made a settlement on the outskirts of the modern-day city and left behind fragments of materials there and at Rakivske. This culture was replaced by the Chernyakhov culture, who left behind child burials and denarii from the Romans of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. In the nearby villages around the reservoir, other hoards of solidi were found of Honorius and Valentinian III and bracelets, which date to at least before 455 AD. Numerous artifacts from a burial of the Saltovo-Mayaki culture were later found.

Middle Ages

Some chronicles claim in what is now known to be a legend that a fortress in Kremenchuk existed as early as the era of Kubrat, or during Vytautas the Great. However, Kievan Rus' era items have been founded such as a rare jug and pottery that might have been at a fortified settlement. The Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' led to people of the Golden Horde then settling in the area, who probably intermingled as reconstruction of burials have found mixed Mongoloid features. The areas around Kremenchuk would then be slowly depopulated, especially during the era of Meñli I Giray due to raids. A document from this era of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania lists a "Kermenchuk" in 1490, although this is believed to be just an unpopulated landmark and not a settlement, with a further note saying "there used to be a little town here; now it lies as empty field".

Nominal founding of Kremenchuk

Stele in honour of the 400th anniversary of Kremenchuk. The monument was built in 1971, commemorating the 1571 date.

Prior to the traditional founding date of 1571, Kremenchuk was already a site as a crossing point by the Tatars across the Dnipro. The site was mentioned in 1550 by a writer, Mykhalon Lytvyn, in his petition to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania under the name "Kermêczik" for a place that needed to be fortified. It was also mentioned in other records, such as one in 1552 of a survey of the Cherkasy Castle as a seasonal fishing/hunting spot, mentioned as an ukhid "Керменъчуцкий". There are also two military instances dated to this period: in 1556, the Muscovite detachment of Matvii Ivanovych Rzhevsky built boats in Kremenchuk to cross the Psel when chasing the Tatars, and in 1559 with the campaign of Danylo Adashev (working on behalf of Dmytro Vyshnevetsky) mentions a "little town on the Psel" with a fortification. However, this little town was not permanent and was already abandoned by 1561-62.

Most scholars agree that modern-day Kremencuk was founded in the aftermath of the Union of Lublin, which transferred most of the area to the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, which itself was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. After the union was signed, it was decided in 1570 to do a census of the estates to strengthen the new borders under Jerzy Jazłowiecki. In 1571, it is then said that the city of Kremenchuk was founded by the quartermaster-general of the army, Hryhoriy Svyrhovsky, as a fortress. A seperate, distinct founding legend from the Poles also sometimes says that instead the city was founded by a nobleman from Lublin known as "Świerszczowski". Still, some researchers also identify the founding to the princes of Vyshnevetsky, who were starostas of Cherkasy and Kaniv, who were said to have built fortifications in the abandoned town of 1561-62 or the areas of Vytautas.

The fortress described in the founding of 1571, however, would never actually be built despite the decision. The area instead, as a ukhid, would slowly become privatised and by 1589 was nominally under the ownership of a nobleman from Kyiv, Jan (Ivan) Bliżyński of the Korczak coat of arms until 1595, when he ceded the life tenure rights. It was noted at the time as a place that did not have a human settlement. In 1590, Mikołaj Yazłowieck, the then starosta of Sniatyn, proposed that Zaporozhian Cossacks headed by Jan Oryshovsky from Chełm could populate the area and that Kremenchuk could be granted the status of a state fortress. This project never happened because the Cossacks were not paid and felt oppressed, so they led an uprising under Krzysztof Kosiński. Kremenchuk being barren and not having any population is further attested in 1594 during the journey of Erich Lassota von Steblau, who described Kremenchuk as only having an old earthen castle, although maps under Mikołaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł still recorded a place called "Kremenchuk-Kremenchyk" as being inhabited despite it most likely being not.

Polish rule and founding of Kremenchuk Fortress

Map from 1648 depicting what is now Kremenchuk as the city of Krzemienczuk.

The actual inhabitation of Kremenchuk would only begin around 1633, when Stefan Rudzki, alongside a co-grantee, Zygmunt Lesiecki, was given the estate by Władysław IV as the "tract called Krzemienczuk". In 1635, the French engineer Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan, who was in the service of Stanisław Koniecpolski, began finally building a fortress in the ruins of Kremenchuk, envisioning a four-sided fort on a hill surrounded by the Dnipro, although this only remained in drawings, and insted a smaller, older fortification was built. That year, on 8 January, the town of Kremenchuk was officially granted Magdeburg law rights, erecting a "new town called Krzemienczuk, situated in the land of Kyiv". However, this new inhabitation proved controversial, and so in August 1637 the Podstarosta of Cherkasy, Yuri Rusynovych, arrived in Kremenchuk and expelled Rudzki while plundering it. Rudzki, in his part, issued a complaint about how Kremenchuk was his holding, although other magnates said it was their holding in claims, leading to the holding of Kremenchuk constantly changing hands during its founding. By 1638 it had become a garrison, and by the 1640s it was already a functioning town with a customs post in 1643.

Cossack Hetmanate and burning

During the Khmelnytsky Uprising in 1648, the Polish nobility were expelled from Kremenchuk, and the city became a sotnia of the Chyhyryn regiment within the Cossack Hetmanate. After the death of Khmelnytsky and the fracturing of the Hetmanate, the officers of Kremenchuk favoured the Poles, while the townspeople were local to Muscovy. Evliya Çelebi, during his travels through Kremenchuk in 1657, confirmed this by saying the city was "on the land of the Polish king", and he also noted there was a small fortress in Kremenchuk with a garrison and monastery. After the uprising led by Martyn Pushkar, Kyrylo Andriyovych, the colonel of the Chyhyryn regiment, became ruler of Kremenchuk. Notably, he was also a supporter of Ivan Vyhovsky, the pro-Polish Hetman of the Zaporizhzhian Host. At the Treaty of Hadiach, Vyhovsky led the delegation of the city of Kremenchuk to the Sejm, in which he petitioned and got granted a confirmation of Kremenchuk's rights under the Magdeburg Law from 1635. Additionally, on 4 June 1659, the city, which was then part of the Commonwealth, was granted by Jan Kazimierz with royal privileges, which exempted the city from certain taxes and tolls. However, the treaty quickly fell apart after pro-Russian Cossacks under Yakym Somko rebelled against the pro-Polish policies of Yurii Khmelnytsky, with Somko taking Kremenchuk. In 1661, hetman Yakym Somko elevated Kremenchuk with its own regiment known as the Kremenchuk Regiment, carving out pieces of the Chyhyryn regiment, which was initially ruled by Kyrylo Andriyovych.

The city then came under fierce tensions between the Poles and Muscovites, coming first under siege in 1662 by the Poles until Grigory Romodanovsky's troops arrived to stop the siege. In June 1663, the "Black Council" saw Somko executed, and control of the left bank came under Ivan Briukhovetsky, who liquidated the Kremenchuk Regiment shortly thereafter, although attempts to revive it would continue up until 1666. Kremenchuk then came under Polish control, at least by 26 June 1663 when Pavlo Teteria reported that the Muscovites were attempting to capture the city. Briukhovetsky had wanted Kremenchuk as a bridgehead to get to Chyhyryn and Kyiv. The Muscovites and Left-Bank Cossacks reached Kremenchuk in July 1663, capturing Perevolochna, but eventually they pulled out before actually taking the city. Another attempt followed in August, which failed. Finally, in August, Ivan Briukhovetsky led a campaign to get Kremenchuk alongside Kyrylo Khlopov via Pereiaslav. During the siege, Kremenchuk was burned down, although the fortress was not taken since they withdrew after hearing that the Poles were coming. In October, Briukhovetsky claimed to Muscovy that his forces had stormed, burned, and razed Kremenchuk while killing about 3,000 others and taking some prisoners. In 1666, Evliya Çelebi once again passed through Kremenchuk, in which he noted that despite reports from 1663, there still existed a two-tier fortification; although the Crimean Tatars had attempted to seize the fortress and set the town ablaze again, they were repelled. After 1667, with the signing of the Treaty of Andrusovo, Kremenchuk came under Muscovite control, although de facto the Cossack Hetmanate was still granted a level of autonomy within Muscovy. That same year, Kremenchuk came under the Myrhorod Regiment. The Poles still claimed Kremenchuk nominally, keeping the title of "starosta of Kremenchuk" for Jerzy Niemirycz, who passed on the title to the Jaskólski family, and after the Polish–Russian Peace Treaty (1686), the title still continued to be granted and used despite the Poles not having de facto control.

In the aftermath of the burning the development of Kremenchuk would stall for some time. Kremenchuk was only used as a garrison post for some troops in Poltava, although by the end of the The Ruin, more stabilisation would come with inhabitants including kompaniitsi and riflemen from Myrhonorod. During this time, Krylov (which would later be merged into Kremenchuk) would also begin to be resettled, alongside settlers appearing at Krukove. Kremenchuk was only mildly affected by the Great Northern War despite nearby Poltava and many neighbouring settlements being destroyed, with only Krylov being razed. There were attempts to take Kremenchuk by a group of Cossacks loyal to the Swedes, but they were captured by the Hetman Danylo Apostol, who executed some of the group or impaled them as traitors under the orders of Fyodor Alexeyevich Golovin.

Imperial Russian revival

Capital of the Novorossiya Governorate

Painting of the city and port of Kremenchug in 1781.

Kremenchug during a visit by Catherine II of Russia in 1787, shortly before the flood.

City place of Kremenchug c. late 1700s

Starting in the 1700s, Kremenchug was slowly revived, during which time the city became more known under the Russian name of Kremenchug, while still being the seat of the Kremenchug company of Myrhorod. During the Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739), Kremenchug took on greater importance as a hug and there were attempts to build bridges to it during the Russian defense. By 1748, the fortress at Kremenchug was an old castle with a posad and ramparts and three gates. Within the surrounding city were headquarters for staff and a saltpeter works with a market, and across the river in Kryukiv was also a small fortification. That year was the last renovation of the fortress before it eventually fell into disuse. Throughout the 50s, trade slowly shifted to becoming more important in Kremenchug with new customs houses opening up, although the city had to be reinforced multiple times over local raids. In 1752, Kryukiv was granted the title of small town. In 1764, Kremenchug became the seat of the 9th company of the Dnipro Pikiner Regiment.

With the rapid development of Kremenchug, the city was chosen to be the capital of the Novorossiya Governorate on 26 March 1765 after the liquidation of the Cossack Hetmanate. This same decree, noting that Kremenchug could probably not handle the traffic associated with this decision, financed new bridges from excess revenue. However, this did not mean that every Cossack approved of the decision, as many Cossacks in Kremenchug continued to remain angry that they were forced to become part of the Dnipro regiment and refused to participate in meetings and delegations. Together, the Cossacks in Kremenchug under Pavlo Denysenko demanded restoration of the previous Cossack status, also angry that many of the settlers from Slavo-Serbia had taken over things in Kremenchug from them. However, the Russian government refused to listen to their demands. Thus, lots of the Cossacks in Kremenchug took part in the Dnipro regiment's uprising of 1769-70, leading to them being brutally suppressed while many Cossacks were displaced by refugees from Tatar-prone areas. Despite the repopulation, the actual development of the city rapidly increased, especially from 1770, as noted during Johann Anton Güldenstädt's journies through Ukraine. Vasyl Zuiev, another traveler, also visited in 1781 and called Kremenchug a well-planned city with streets radiating from the fortress, with around 1,300 residents. A state school was opened in 1772 for officers alongside a girls' school and a private boarding school for nobles. A city government was also formed in Kremenchug with duma elections and a Magistrate, and the city was divided into quarters. In addition, the Jewish population rapidly surged from only seven in 1782 to 500 in 1797. In 1776, the capital was moved from Kremenchug to Yekaterinoslav, although after the dissolution of the governorate it briefly again became the administrative centre of the Yekaterinoslav Viceroyalty in 1783.

Decline in the late 1700s

However, this rapid surge of Kremenchug was hindered in 1784 when the city was struck with a plague. Ivan Synelnykov was appointed to manage the plague, and he divided the city into seperate districts with wooden gates. The physician Danylo Samoylovych also arrived in June to help, and he advised fumigation. From around May to November 1784, 240 people died of around 8,000 people near the city, alongside many who died in the countryside but were not reported.

The city then began to recover during the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792), when it again became an important logistics center and a shipyard was built near the river. This increased especially by 1789, when nearly all military supplies went through Kremenchug. However, yet again, Kremenchug was struck by disaster in May 1789 with a giant flood, which destroyed much of the city. In light of this, many administrative duties that Kremenchug had done were moved to Hradyzk which was formalised in June 1789, while Kremenchug was demoted back to a non-administrative town. In 1796, the devestated town was moved to the Little Russia Governorate, before finally settling int he Poltava Governorate. According to German traveler Johann Georg Kohl in 1838, the decision to remove Kremenchug as an administrative seat led to the decline of the military significance of the city and the permanent shift to being a trading centre instead.

Poltava Governorate and 1800s

Map of Poltava Governorate with Kremenchug highlighted.

Embarkment in Kremenchug after the flood of 1877.

Starting in the early 1800s, Alexander I of Russia approved resettling German people, who were largely poor colonists, into Kremenchug. After settling in 1809, a colonist known as Helitser founded a cloth factory, while another named Ruprecht founded a leather factory, with these colonial enterprises quickly becoming important to Kremenchug's economy. In 1834, Kremenchug became the second city after Odessa in Ukraine to open a commodity exchange. At the time, Kremenchug was dominated by Old Believers, with a slight number of Lutherans due to the German colonists, although by 1845 this shifted after persecution of the Old Believers and by the 1860s the population was virtually non-existant. Due to the high risk of flooding, as seen in 1789, in 1844 a new plan was drawn up for a wall made of stone on the river and to also pave the shoreline, which was followed up by a survey in 1848 that also proposed a dam.

Starting in 1859, the city's first public library was founded, although it was poorly maintained, and the following year two Sunday schools opened up. Despite this progress, in 1861 Oleksandr Konysky wrote under the pen name "Перехoдовець" that Kremenchug was a poorly maintained city that was only cleaned when important visitors came through, and was reliant on timber trading via the river. Two decades later, in 1880, the Austrian brothers Bernard and Georg Friedrich Orenshtein purchased a leather factory and renamed it to "Б.М.Оренштейн і К", which became the largest leather processing enterprise near the Dnipro soon after. That decade, half-dams and eventually full stone dams were finally constructed near Kremenchug near the Chervoniy kamin reef. By the end of the century, the Kremenchug river pier ranked from 36th to 38th in total cargo volume transported among all Russian rivers, with around 20 million poods of cargo going through Kremenchug annually, most of it timber. In addition, the 1897 Russian census recorded that Kremenchug had a population of 58,648 people, which was actually larger than Poltava, which continued to rapidly grow to 70,000 by 1913, with a majority of the citizens being Jews due to being located in the Pale of Settlement.

Revolution of 1905 and early 1900s

Commemorative plaque to the 1905 revolution in Kremenchug.

General view of Kremenchug in a postcard dated from 1905 to 1917.

By the start of the 1905 Russian Revolution, Kremenchug had 50 factories, although the average worker was paid far less than in Russia and workdays were 14-15 hours. With the start of the revolution, word reached Kremenchug in early February 1905, leading to around 1,400 workers going on strike, which was agitated by leaflets that called for an armed struggle. Grigory Petrovsky himself also told workers on Pushkin Street to fight with weapons. A peasant congress was convened in Kremenchug to aid the revolution starting in October 1905, although many members were killed after the October Manifesto when police opened fire at one of the meetings on Pushkin Street. By December, workers in Kremenchug returned to striking, and together they formed a Soviet, which condemned the manifesto. Due to this unrest, martial law was declared on 21 December 1905, with the governor of the uezd banning any revolutionary papers and leaflets shortly thereafter and exiling RSDLP members. After this, the revolution slowly tapered off in Kremenchug in light of the failed Moscow uprising of 1905, although small groups continued to work as late as 1907 in the neighbouring villages. Strikes were again renewed from 1910 to 1912, leading to some organisations getting high wages in 1912.

After the start of World War I, Kremenchug became a refugee destination, especially after the Great Retreat in 1915. Refugees were placed in both the parishes of Kremenchug and in neighbouring villages temporarily. Despite this, life still continued, and in 1915 the new Holy Trinity Church was opened alongside the large cinema called "Colosseum", which became a gathering spot and drew large crowds. In addition, the troupe of A. Chinizelli regularly came to Kremenchug. However, Kremenchug soon became involved in the anti-war movement. This was most evident in November 1916, when seven thousand soldiers stationed in Kremenchug refused to go to the front, instead starting a mutiny and deserting, which the Cossack officers did nothing to stop.

Soviet era

Russian Civil War

Monument to the sailors of the Dnipro flotilla

Plaque to the establishment of Soviet power during the civil war

1919

Restoration work being done in Kremenchug in 1919.

Sources

• Suprunenko, O. B. (2004). Старожитності Кременчука: Археологічні пам'ятки території та округи міста (in Ukrainian). Kremenchuk: Археологія.
• Вирський, Дмитро Станіславович (2019). Новоросія Incognita: Кременчук 1764–1796 рр. (матеріали з історії регіональної столиці) (in Ukrainian). Kyiv: Поліграфічна дільниця Інституту історії України НАН України.
• Adams, Arthur E. (1963). Bolsheviks in the Ukraine: The Second Campaign, 1918-1919. Yale University Press. Retrieved 7 August 2026.