Очаковская слобода
"очак" means an island between a river and its tributaries; "слобода" is a settlement where people lived doing public service
On the right bank of Tuskar river and a steep hill over the Dobrolyubova square, one of the oldest churches rises — a Trinity church erected in 1742.
The hero of our newsletter, — the Ochakovo settlement — located along the left riverbank from Malykh street to Gypsy hills.
The territory served as a monastery in the 16th and 17th centuries and people lived in the Ochakov settlement, worked for the good of the monastery until 1649 when the monastery was abolished. Later, in the year 1808, people’s social status turned into Kursk burghers.
The Ochakov settlement was a centre of leather industry in Kursk region. Along Tuskar river, over 30 tanneries and over 70 houses served as shops and a plethora of handicraftmen had been located and worked along the river. Gradually people formed unions and by the beginning of the First World War, amongst others, the merchants Lavrovy formed two largest tanneries. After the October Revolution, it was nationalized and renamed into the Second and the Third State Tanneries. In the 1922 both were united and named after a worker Seryogin.
Little people know now about the former popularity of high quality leather works crafted at the Tuskar riverbank.
P.S. You can see the 1902 year borders of the Ochakovo settlement here in red.