The town of Balashikha (founded in 1830) is situated in the center of the Moscow Region; it is the largest town of the Moscow Region and the largest settlement of the city district Balashikha. The town’s population makes 215.4 thousand people (2010).

Following its expansion in 2003-2004 the town has occupied an extensive territory to the east of Moscow, stretching 11 km long from the north to the south, and 15 km from the west to the east. The town stands on rivers Pekhorka and Gorenka. It has six flag stations of the railway. Balashikha is an ancient center of the textile industry (since the town’s foundation).

History of Balashikha

The first record of Balashikha (in those days called the Ploshikha Mill) dates back to the 16th century. Balashikha was developed from former villages Ploshikha (Bloshino), Leonovo, Nikolaevka, Zelyonaya Roshcha, Nikolsko-Trubetskoe, Gushchinka (Sausanovo) and manors, including the famous Gorenki and Pekhra-Yakovlevskoye.

The manor Gorenki was founded by and belonged to the Dolgorukis Princes (1714—1747) and Count G. Razumovsky. During the Soviet period it served as a children's asylum and later as a sanatorium.

In the 19th century textile industry was mainly developed in Balashikha. In 1830 a textile factory was built there on River Pehorka, and in 1844the fabric manufacture gave way to cotton spinning. In 1847 all the factory constructions got burned down, and in due course stone structures took their place. Those were a cotton spinning factory and a textile factory. In 1868, however, textile production was stopped. In the late 19th – early 20th century a settlement began to develop around the factory.

In 1939 the factory settlement got the status of a town, and became the district center in 1941.