Rakov

Rakov before 1917

History

IX century	- a settlement (sizes [m]: 660 x 300) was founded on the place of Rakov.
XIV century	- Rakov was a possession of the Great Lithuanian Prince.
1465	- Polish King and Great Lithuanian Prince Kazimir gave Rakov to Kizgaylo magnate family.
1550	- Rakov became a possession of Zavisha noble family.
1568 - 1791	- Rakov was a shtetle in Minsk Province of the Great Lithuanian Princedom.
2nd half of XVI century	- a Calvin church was founded in Rakov.
1st half of XVII century	- Rakov became a possession of Sangushcha magnate family and the center of Rakov County. Jewish population appeared.
XVI century	- the Orthodox Church of Transfiguration was founded in Rakov.
1686	- small Dominican Cloister of St. Spirit was founded by Konstantsia Sapega-Sangushcha in Rakov.
1701	- King of Rech Pospolitaya August II awarded Rakov with a privillege to hold two annual fairs.
1702	- Kazimir Sangushcha founded a Baselian monastery by the Church of Transfiguration.
1742	- the Cloister of St. Spirit was destroyed by fire, but was rebuilt anew.
1791 - 1793	- Rakov was a shtetle in Minsk Province of Polish Kingdom.
Since 1793	- in Russian Empire.
1794	- Rakov was confiscated by Russian Empress Catherine the Great from Sangushcha magnate family and was given to Count Saltykov.
Since 1801	- Rakov was a shtetle in Minsk District of Minsk Province.
1804	- Count Saltykov sold Rakov to Zdzikhovsky noble family.
1824	- wooden Roman Catholic church and chapel were built by local Roman Catholic Brotherhood.
1835	- the old Cloister of St. Spirit was closed, the church became a parochial one.
1839	- the Baselian monastery was closed in Rakov, the church became a parochial one.

Vital Statistics

Date	Number of Jews	Number of Non-Jews			Commentaries		Specific gravity in total population number
XVI century					Jewish population appeared
1765	785		No info	Male adults only		No info
1859	1501				Total population		No info
1886	About 3000				Total population		over 50%
1897	2168	1473			Both sexes		59,5 %
1905	4960				Total population		No info

Jewish Life

By 1900 in Rakov there were:

- a synagogue;

- 4 praying houses.

Economical Review.

Since early time Isloch river was the main road and trade way for local habitants, who were busy with agriculture, pottery and livestock farming.

Since 1550, after Sangushcha magnate family had become Rakov possessor, the shtetle started to developed rapidly. Resident Jewish population appeared. Traditional activities of local Jewish population were growing of vegetables and trade with them, trade with grain and vodka.

Since XVIII century big market took place in Rakov every Monday.

During Russian principality, vodka trade was under state hard control and became less popular among Jewish businessmen. But Russian authorities did a lot to develop the region because of military and fiscal reasons mostly. First of all, old communications were reconstructed there:

- trade road Minsk - Pershay -Volozhin - Oshmyany;

- trade road Rakov - Vileyka.

In XIX, because of development of the AllRussian Market, new types of communications appeared in the region.

Since 1873 the closest railway and telegraph stations were in Zaslavl (17 km).

Those events provoked new rapid increase of Rakov. Soon after 1873 the dirt road from Rakov to Radoshkovichi was constructed.

In the late XIX - early XX century in Rakov and the Subdistrict there were:

- few mills;

- a vodka factory;

- a sawmill;

- agricultural machines building industry (seeding, mowing, threshing machines, manual mills, etc.) (since 1843).

Those machines were popular not only in the locality, but in Pskov and St. Petersbourg Provinces.

Since late XIX century Rakov became famous for horse thieving. The horses were usually sold in Vilno Province.

Here is the table of development of Rakov in the 2nd half of XIX - early XX century:

Date of record	Number of houses
1859	140
1886	>200
1905	740

Here is the list of major business and trade enterprises of Rakov and the Subdistrict for 1902.

Name of owner	Type of business	Nationality
Abramov Sholom son of Iosel	Pharmacy	Jewish
Galinker Rasha son of Itsko	Fabric store	Jewish
Ghinzburg Yudel son of Mendel	Iron store	Jewish
Goldin Pantiel son of Ovsey	Fabric store	Jewish
Kats Abram son of Khatskel	Fabric store	Jewish

General cultural information.

Before 1839 in the Cloister there were:

- a rich library;

- an archive;

- a boarding house of St. Anna;

- a hospital.

After 1839 all those were taken by the Provincial Treasury and, probably, destroyed.

In beg. XX century in Rakov there were:

- the Roman Catholic Church of St. Spirit;

- a Roman Catholic chapel;

- the stone Orthodox church of Transfiguration;

- an Orthodox chapel on the cemetery;

- a Roman Catholic public primary school (since 1870s);

- a post office and telegraph station (since 1887);

- a public primary school;

- a pharmacy.

The closest doctor was in Zaslavl (17 km).