“It is quite and hopelessly calm in this center like in a deep hole...”: social life in the county town of Laishev
The article describes the creation of various social and cultural organizations in the city of Laishev in the second half of the 19<sup>th</sup> - early 20<sup>th</sup> century. The article provides insight into the perception of the writer Yevgeny Chirikov of the city’s public life as being completely improper for the metropolitan population. Besides, the way the city community represented by the Town Council and self-organized citizens, promoted the opening of cultural, leisure and consumer organizations, is shown. Within the mentioned period a public library, a public assembly, a consumer society, and a reading room of the local department of the temperance society were opened. The author considers their charters and activities, and their impact on the life of Laishev. It is concluded that the criteria used in terms of major provincial and especially capital cities are not suitable for evaluating the social life of the county town, but the processes that took place in Laishev contributed a lot to the intellectual and cultural development of the residents of the city, as well as its neighborhood.