Morshansk

a city under oblast jurisdiction; the center of Morshansk Raion, Tambov Oblast, RSFSR. Population, 44,000 (1970). The city is situated on the banks of the Tsna River (Oka basin), on the Tambov-Shatsk highway. It is a railroad station on the Moscow-Kuibyshev line, 93 km north of Tambov. Industry is represented by chemical, machine-building, motor-repair plants, foundry and machinery works, a sawmill, a cloth factory, two clothing factories, a tobacco combine, enterprises of the food industry (a meat and poultry processing combine, a creamery, and a beer brewery), and railroad transport enterprises. Morshansk is the site of textile, construction, and library technicums and a museum of local lore. The city arose in 1779 from the village of Morsha, which was first mentioned in written sources in the middle of the 17th century.