Buy (Russian: Буй) is a town in Kostroma Oblast, Russia, which stands on the Kostroma River. Population: 25,763 (2010 Census preliminary results);[1] 27,392 (2002 Census);[2] 32,701 (1989 Census).[3]
Buy was originally a trading post and protected by a hill fortress of Finno Ugrian Meri (Russian Merja) people c. 400-500 AD. Its original Meri name is not known, but in Finnish language it was called either Vuoksensuu or Vieksansuu (Mouth of Vuoksi / Vieksa). It was inhabited by the Finno-Ugrian peoples of the area at least up to the Mongol invasion to Russia in 1237-1238. During the Mongol threat, few inhabitants of Kostroma sought refuge in Buy, and it seems that they renamed the place to Buy (Vui = Bui) instead of difficult Finno-Ugrian name, but the origin of the Russian name comes from the old Meri (Merja) name.
Buy was founded in 1536 as a fortified point at the confluence of the Kostroma River and the Vyoksa River. The fortified point was built according to the order of Yelena Glinskaya, the regentess of Russia at that time and the mother of Ivan the Terrible, to defend the eastern frontiers of Muscovy from raids of Kazan Tatars and others. However, twenty years after its construction the fortress has lost its military significance, as Kazan was taken and the raids ceased.
During Buy's first three and a half centuries, the population scarcely exceeded 2,000. Except for officials and priests, most inhabitants were peasants and small craftsmen. Cottage industries included pottery, iron, leather, felt, wool, carpentry, painting, blacksmithing, and oil pressing. These products were primitive and distribution was local; even export to a neighboring area was considered a commercial success.
One exception was the distillery, the predecessor of the current chemical plant. Almost the only factory in town, the distillery employed 40 workers producing 600,000 liters of vodka annually. The soft bog water allowed the plant to produce a high-quality product which was sold even in provincial capitals.
Buy received its status as a town in 1778, in the reign of Catherine the Great.
In 1905, a branch of the Saint Petersburg-Vyatka Railway (completed in 1908) reached Buy. At the same time, the railroad running north from Yaroslavl through Danilov arrived, so that Buy became a railroad junction town. The new Buy railway station was located 682 versts (728 km) from Saint Petersburg and 576 versts (614 km) from Moscow.
In 1914-1915 the Russians built a large POW camp for captured Austrian, Hungarian and German prisoners of war. It was located three versts south of Buy in Korega at the west bank of Kostroma River. After the Peace Treaty of Brest-Litowsk was signed on March 3, 1918 under the terms of Peace Treaty all prisoners of war were released. The camp was left empty.
After the end of the Finnish Civil War in 1918, many Finnish Reds who escaped into Soviet Russia were relocated to the Buy camp as their first place to create a Communist society. In May 1918 there were 3,268 Finns in Buy. Most of them relocated soon after, so that in July only about 500 remained. Few stayed in Buy, and some that did were deported during the Great Purge two decades later.
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