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The location of Staromarevka. Staromarevka village is located 18 kilometers northwest of the regional center Stavropol. The distance to the district center Grachevka village is 21 km. The length of the village is 12 km from south-east to north-west and 1 - 2.5 km from east to west. The federal highway “Stavropol-Elista-Astrakhan” passes through the territory of the municipality. The village is connected with the main city Stavropol, and the town Mikhailovsk. It borders with Shpakovka district of Stavropol region by paved roads. There is a direct connection with the airports of Stavropol and Mineralnye Vody.

You are beautiful, my blue land

By the old hill in the steppe,

Where the peaceful river sighs,

Staromarevka my native

Is lying like a ribbon.

A dove is sobbing in the brunches,

A Starling is whistling quietly

And a lark is sparkling in the bushes

Like a trampling point in the sky.

Dawns gleam in the mornings,

Sunsets burn in the evenings,

And grey winds gamble here

Over the slopping hills.

The stars are so burning in the night,

With lights carelessly cheerful,

One wants to reach it with a hand

And hang on the chest like a talisman.

You are beautiful my blue land

Surrounded with mountains and forests.

Live long and never die,

The source of future generations.

Lidia Nimofeevna Efimenko

Translated by Akobyan Hasmik Telmanopvna

Some facts from the history of the formation of the village of Staromarevka

In 2015the village celebrated its 220th anniversary. During this period of time, the village has seen many tragic and glorious moments that every inhabitant of it should know and remember.

In the second half of the 18th century Russia continued to strengthen its position in the North Caucasus. The Russian-Turkish war (1768 - 1774) played an important role in the further development of the Caucasus by Russia. In the course of it, the Russians won a victory. Due to the fact that hostile actions from Turkey did not stop in 1777, Catherine II approved the project for the construction of the Azov-Mozdok fortified line. In the same year, the Cossacks of the Volzhsky and Khopersky, infantry Kabardian and Vladimir dragoons regiments were transferred to this defensive line. In order to prevent the danger of the invasion of the Turks in the Caucasus, Alexander Suvorov was appointed field marshal in the Azov-Mozdok line. So in 1777 Stavropol was founded as one of the fortresses. Soon Soldiers' settlements and Cossack villages appeared near the fortifications.

In the place of the modern village of Staromaryevskoye, there was the village of Maryino (Maryevskoye), founded in about 1785. According to the order of the governor-general of Saratov and Caucasian P.S. Potemkin the village received the name "Maryino", or "Maryevskoye". But due to low soil fertility and lack of water the settlers from Voronezh and Kursk governorships, also from other places of Central Chernozem region left these lands in 1795. They soon formed the village near Stavropol which they named Novomaryevskoye. Other new settlers from Voronezh, Kursk, Chernigov and other governorships of Ukraina and the South of Russia settled Maryino and it became known as Staraya Marevka (Old Marevka).

The legend says that the name of the village was given by Konon Ustinov, the commander of the Khopyor regiment, after the name of his wife Maria, and in honour of his daughter Maria, Novomaryevka village was named.

The first settlers had cattle then gradually they began to plow the land. Most of the land belonged to the state, but there were also landowners' holdings. The farmers sowed wheat, rye, buckwheat, oats, barley, millet. In 1881, one of the settlers, Petr Alekseevich Vlasov, who was expelled from the Tambov province, built a tile factory. It was at the end of the village. Clay was delivered from a pit, which was located behind a small bend in the river. The sand for the factory was mined on a sand quarry, not far from the village, about ten miles. The tiles were of good quality. The factory was famous all over the Stavropol province and brought significant profits to the family.

The people of Staromarevka have always been brave and devoted to both Russian Imperia and their birthplace. Cossacks- Staromarevians took part in the Caucasian and Crimean wars and the suppression of the Polish uprising of 1863-1864, they were also involved in the final colonization of the foothills of the Western Caucasus. In those years, there were various commercial and industrial establishments in the village: 2 manufactory, 3 grocery stores, 3 sheepskin producing factories, 16 water mills. At the end of the 19th century, the village had two one-class schools: ministerial and parish. The parish school was opened in 1893 and was maintained at the expense of the Church. The children were taught by a local deacon. At the end of the century, the school was attended by 30 children.

Like the other villages living around Stavropol, the Staromarevka people also suffered from the raids of the Trans-Kuban mountaineers. In 1900 retired sergeant Georgievsky cavalier from Staromarevka Konstantin Semyonovich Podzolkov put a cross with a commemorative inscription in honor of his fallen fellow countrymen near the stanitsa Otvazhnaya of Kuban region next to the already built chapel. Here on May 4 of 1850 two hundred of the 1st Stavropol regiment were killed in an unequal battle with the mountaineers: 59 Cossacks from st. Staromarevskaya. They died for Faith, Tsar and Fatherland.

On the 160th anniversary of those memorable events, a monument was put in the place where the cross stood, with the names of the killed Cossacks inscribed on it, and a cross with a memorial tablet was installed at the burial place.

The tragic events that have left their mark on the history of our village

The 20th century began with a series of tragic events that left their mark on the history of our village. Nobody in the village expected a war with Japan, but the war began on January 28, 1904. Men from Staromarevka also took part in the battles in the Far East. Andrey Smuglienko, a gunner of the 55th Podolsk infantry regiment, has gone missing. It happened near the city of Mukden.

The events of the 20th century developed very quickly. The revolution of 1905-1907 had no influence on our village. It had neither tragic consequences nor fundamental changes. During the First World War, a squad was formed from the inhabitants of Staromarevka and sent to the front. In 1917, a part of the soldiers, under the influence of revolutionary agitation, returned to the village. They brought the news of the events in Petrograd. The villagers expressed their support for the revolutionary proletariat at the meeting. Leaflets and the newspaper "Pravda" were distributed among the population. After the establishment of Soviet Power in the Stavropol Region, in the winter of 1918, new authorities were created in the village. When the civil war began, many people joined the Red Army, the partisan squads of Shpak and Zhloba. The participants in the civil war, returning to their birthplace, began the construction of a new life, opened a cultural centre in the village, organized clubs for the elimination of illiteracy. At this time, party and Komsomol cells were created. The Komsomol was headed by Podzolko Grigory.

The formation of the first pioneer squads in Staromarevka

The first pioneer squads in the village were created in 1924. They worked at the village Komsomol organization. Komsomol and pioneer rooms were equipped in the library building. The first leader of the squad (the creator of the Komsomol and pioneer organization) was Podzolko Grigory Konstantinovich. The squad had 13 members. The children used to come to the Pioneer room with great pleasure at about 4-5 pm. At the classes there, they used to march to the drum, sang revolutionary songs, built "pyramids", practiced gymnastic exercises, shouted slogan words, read loudly, learned poetry. During holidays, they performed in front of the workers of the first state farm right in the street, in the steppe. On revolutionary holidays the pioneers went to demonstrations with adults holding flags. They performed at rallies with songs and greetings.

A lot of work was done at home too. They taught the uneducated. Komsomol members used to visit the villagers and ask to let children join the squad. But there were few people who let their children join the pioneer squads. There mostly were partisans` children . The ties were sewn by themselves.

In the 1920s, the things in the village began to change for the better. The economy and agriculture of the village were developing rapidly. In the summer of 1925, a resident of the village P.K. Umnyakov brought a new tractor "Forzon" from Stavropol. And three years later, the first MTS (machine and tractor station) in the North Caucasus was founded in the village. A delegation of German communists headed by Ernst Telmann was present at the mass meeting dedicated to this event. I.A. Likhachev was the head of MTS. In 1928, the largest collective farm in the Stavropol Region "Gigant" was founded in the village. The first leader of the collective farm was L.K. Varfolomeev. The collective farm had 2 tractor brigades of 15 tractors. The brigadiers were A.P. Smuglienko. and Skrebtsov K.

In 1923-1924 four summer schools were established in Staromarevka. The children were taught by Efimova E.I., Tsypina V.A., Popova F.M. In the 30s, a club appeared. The club organized amateur art sections: drama, choral, string orchestra. The club members staged concerts not only in the village of Staromarevka, but also in the villages of Beshpagir, Mikhailovka (now Mikhailovsk). The agitation brigade had awards: a gramophone and a lot of diplomas.

The brigade went to the villages putting all their things on the cart and sledges, and they themselves followed the sledges on foot, back and forth. There was a library at the club too. In the early 1930s, the Gigant collective farm was split into three farms: named after Stalin, Voroshilov, and Budyonny. That is why the people nowadays call one end of the village Voroshilovka, and the other end is called Budyonovka.

Collective farms were in terrible need of equipment, funds, and received unstable harvests. In 1933 terrible hunger broke out in the village. But despite the difficulties, people worked conscientiously.

1937 brought a lot of grief too. Many villagers were subjected to Stalinist repressions.

The Great Patriotic War and its influence on the lives of

the Staromarevka people.

On June 22 1941 the whole country was shocked by the terrible news. The Great Patriotic War began. In the center of the village, where there was the only radio point, and where later a monument was put, crowds of Staromarevka women gathered with tears in their eyes.

At the rally, the chairman of the collective farm N. Mishustin said: "Don`t cry, women. We will take revenge on the Nazis for interrupting our peaceful life!" Soon N. Mishustin, together with other volunteers, went to the front and died in the war. A lot of Staromarevians did not return from this war. Only women, old people and children remained in the village. The whole weight of the war fell on their shoulders. From early morning till late night, the women used to work in the fields. And at night they sewed, knitted warm clothes and sent to the front.

Everybody in Staromarevka tried to make his own contribution to help the Red Army. Everybody was dreaming about the Victory. There are documentary facts about donations that Staromarevians made for the army. The collective farmsdonated 1,500 chickens, 60 pigs, 10 c. milk, 20 c. oil, 200 kg. honey, 30 sheep, 8,000 lambs. 205 c. vegetables, 10 c. meat, 30 c. potatoes, 50 c. fruit and 18,000 rubles in cash. The whole village raised funds for the construction of a tank column.

Staromarevians went through a difficult time of occupation too. They saw with their own eyes how the Germans burned and ruined everything created with their hard work. They took away the families of Jews outside the village, to the collective farm garden. They were buried in one grave there. As eyewitnesses say, the earth at their burial place “had been breathing” for 2 more days. And a 13-year-old boy was tortured for cutting the cable. Having failed to gain recognition, he was shot on the mountain. Since then it has been called “Vovka`s mountain”.

By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated May 10 1965 Vladimir Alekseevich Koveshnikov was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of II degree.

Staromarevians heroically fought on the battlefields. Hundreds of front-line soldiers were awarded with military awards for their services to the Motherland. A native of the village Kizilov I.M. Kryukov took part in the Victory Day parade in Moscow on June 24, 1945. More than 500 people did not return from that war. During the battle for the Caucasus, the partisans showed themselves to be courageous defenders of the Motherland.

Forty seven partisan detachments were operating on the territory of the region, which united over 2,000 patriots. Among them were our fellow villagers L.K. Varfolomeev. and his son, 13-year-old Vorfolomeev Victor. Little Vitya became a scout. No one performed combat missions better than he. In March 1943 he was awarded the Medal of Courage. This was his first award, and it was presented by the first secretary of the regional party committee and chief of staff of the partisan movement in the Stavropol Territory - M.A. Suslov.

The restoration and development of the national economy

The restoration and development of the national economy was not easy after the war. The village lacked strong male hands. A railway station, a grain receiving center, state institutions for the regional center were rebuilt. A school, a House of Culture, shops and a hospital were revived.

So the government adopted decrees on measures to raise agriculture. Small collective farms were strengthened. In 1957, the Staromarevsky state farm was established.

In the 60s, electricity and water came to the village. Before that people lived without light here. In every courtyard there was a pool or they collected rainwater. In 1956, the construction of the huge gas pipeline Stavropol - Moscow was carried out. But gas came to our village almost 40 years later.

By the 80s the state farm had turned into a diversified economy and it allocated significant funds for the improvement of the village.

The love for God, observance of Orthodox traditions and reverent attitude to the relics of the church among the Staromarevka people pass from generation to generation. The walls of the temple are decorated not only with new icons, but also with old ones, left over from the pre-revolutionary Pakrovski Cathedral, destroyed during the years of Soviet power. Local people saved the images from destruction. The construction of a new church is currently underway.

The life in the village is going on. Like at all times people live and try to make their contribution to the prosperity and development of the village. Today also there live people in Staromarevka whom we are proud of. And today a lot of significant events take place here too.

The village is large both in terms of population and territory. It is multinational. About 32 nationalities and ethnic groups live here. People are very hospitable. They live in harmony and peace here.