Temirtau

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For the urban-type settlement in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, see Temirtau, Russia.

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Temirtau (Kazakh: Теміртау, Russian: Темиртау) is a city in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan.

Тemirtau, Avenue of the Republic.
View of the Karaganda Metallurgical Institute (closer) and the sports complex (farther)

[edit] Short history

1905, June, 15 - the first groups of settlers (see Stolypin reform) settled down on the left bank of the Nura river. There were 40 families, that had arrived from Samara. The settlement they founded was named Zhaur (Жаур), after a hill on the other side of the river.
1909 - the Zhaur settlement was renamed Samarkandsky (Самаркандский, or Samarkand for short).
1911 - the first school and the first hospital were built.
1933 - the Samarkandsky-Karaganda water conduit was built to facilitate the development of the Karaganda coal field.
1939 - a 20x300m dam was erected across the Nura river. Filling of the resulting Samarkand water reservoir was initiated, and continued up to 1961.
1942 - the first turbine of the Karaganda State Regional Electric Power Station was started up. The construction of the power plant building was started in 1934
1944 - still under construction, the Kazakh Steel Mill yielded its first steel, smelted in an open-hearth (Siemens-Martin) furnace.
1945, October, 1 - the Samarkand settlement was granted city status and renamed Temirtau ("Iron Mountain" in Kazakh)
1947-1949 - Japanese prisoners-of-war were kept in a camp near the town.
1950 - the future Karaganda Steel Mill was founded. To build it the USSR announced a "Nationwide High-Intensive Construction Project", and a lot of youth "shock-worker brigades" were gathered from all parts of the Soviet Union and even from ally countries (mainly from Bulgaria).
1959 - riots and insurrections among workers greatly dissatisfied with the poor working and living conditions and the interruptions in supply of water, food, goods, tools etc - the result of numerous mistakes committed by the administration. Clashes took their toll. Workers: 16 fatalities, 27 wounded, about 70 arrested and convicted. Police: 28 wounded.
1960 - blast furnace No. 1 yielded its first cast iron.
1963 - the Karaganda Polytechnical Institute (now Karaganda Metallurgical Institute) was founded as a Higher Technical Educational Institution attached to the Karaganda Steel Mill.
1970s - a new sports complex was built, including a 50 m swimming pool, a stadium that seats 15,000 and an indoor ice-skating/hockey rink.
1972 - the "Metallurgists' Palace of Culture" was opened.
1978 - "Vostok" recreational park was laid out in the eastern part of the city and opened to the public.
1978, July, 29 - the Warrior Monument with the Eternal Flame was dedicated to the honor of Temirtau soldiers killed in World War II.
1984 - a new residential area, "Zenica", was established. It was named so in honour of Zenica, Temirtau's twin-town in Bosnia and Herzegovina (former Yugoslavia).
1993, January - the Winter Garden was opened in "Vostok" Park
1995 - the Karaganda Steel Mill was transferred to ISPAT International, renamed Ispat-KarMet and eventually became the present Mittal Steel Temirtau.