Kamyshin

a city in Volgograd Oblast, RSFSR. Situated on the right shore of the Volgograd Reservoir, at the mouth of the Kamyshinka River. Port and important transshipment point (primarily bread, salt, and petroleum). Terminal station on the Balashov-Kamyshin railroad line. Population, 101,000 (1972; 24, 000, in 1939).

The city was founded in 1667 as the village of Kamyshinka on the left bank of the Kamyshinka River. In 1710 the inhabitants were moved to the right bank, where there was a fortress. This settlement was named the city of Dmitrievskii. In 1780 the city was renamed Kamyshin and made the administrative center of a district of the namestnichestvo (vicegerency) of Saratov; in 1797 it was made the administrative center of a district of Saratov Province. In the 19th century Kamyshin was a merchant city with sawmills and flour mills and was famed for its trade in watermelons.

Kamyshin has a cotton combine, a factory for the production of cranes, a machine-building plant (equipment for stock-breeding farms), a varnish and paint factory, and plants for the assembly of metalworking instruments and the manufacture of glass vessels. There are also food industry enterprises (a vegetable cannery, a butter and cheese combine, and a meat-packing plant) and plants producing building materials. Educational institutions include an evening textile technicum, a technicum for the mechanization of agriculture, and medical and music schools. Kamyshin also has a museum of local lore and a dramatic theater. Melon growing (watermelons) is widespread outside the city.

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