Kanash

(until 1920, Shikhrany), a city in the Chuvash ASSR. Located 84 km south of Cheboksary on the Tsivil’sk-Ul’ianovsk highway. Railroad lines link Kanash to Cheboksary, Kazan, Arzamas, and Ruzaevka. Population, 43, 500 (1972). Kanash is an important industrial center of the Chuvash Republic, the site of a large railroadcar repair plant, a motor-vehicle overhauling factory, and factories producing electric loading machinery, cutting tools, motor-vehicle spare parts, polymer materials, and construction materials. Clothing, felting, and furniture factories as well as food industry establishments (a meat combine, a creamery, and a bakery) are also located in Kanash. There is a financial technicum, a night technicum for railroad transport, apedagogical school, and a medical school in the city, as well asa museum of local lore. Kanash arose in the 1890’s as a railroadstation and became a city in 1925.