Volsk

city and administrative center of Vol’sk Raion in Saratov Oblast, RSFSR. A railroad station and port on the right bank of the Volga River. Population, 69,000 (1970; 35,000 in 1926; 56,000 in 1939).

Vol’sk is a major center of the cement industry in the USSR: there are four plants, and construction of an asbestos cement plant was begun in 1971. The city also has a leather-processing plant, a plant producing tanning extracts, the Metallist Plant, and a sawmill. Vol’sk is a center for the food-processing industry, with a meat-packing combine, a dairy, a brewery, and other enterprises. There is also a garment factory. Vol’sk has two technicums, a technological and an agricultural, as well as a medical school and two pedagogical colleges. The city has a drama theater and a museum of local lore. Founded in the 17th century, it became a district administrative center in 1780.