Uren — a town and the administrative center of Urenskiy District, Nizhny Novgorod Region.
The town is located 190 km north of Nizhny Novgorod, on the highway and railway line running from Nizhny Novgorod to Kirov.
History
Uren is first mentioned in documents in 1719.
The settlement of Uren as a selo (a larger village) dates to the early 18th century. At that time the tsarist court had an interest in seeing its lands beyond the Volga River settled and made profitable. Settlers were offered various privileges. Those who wished to live freely and worship in the old ways flocked across the Volga. Thousands of Old Believer families moved — both openly and in secret — to these lands: into the Prikerzhenie area, the Zavetluzhie region, and along the marshy banks of the Usta River. Documents from the first census and male-population audit that have survived to the present day indicate that in 1719 there were 168 "male souls" living in Uren.
The first quarter of the 19th century brought the Uren volost (administrative district) the loss of many freedoms and liberties — unauthorized felling of timber and unauthorized relocation from village to village were categorically forbidden. Clearing kuligi (small plots of land) for sowing was likewise strictly prohibited.
After the abolition of serfdom, most of the population of the Uren area found itself under a double burden: oppression by wealthy kulaks and by the authorities alike, and there was not enough locally grown grain to feed everyone. The people of Uren earned money to buy grain by working in the forests. Various cottage industries became increasingly widespread. In the mid-19th century small-scale dye shops, tallow-rendering works, tar-making operations, sheepskin, leather, and felt workshops appeared, employing hundreds of hired laborers. Tailors, harness-makers, tinsmiths, carpenters, and sawyers traveled from village to village — alone and in artels (work collectives). By 1905, cottage industries were practiced by 454 households.
In 1929, as a result of the territorial reforms of Soviet Power, Uren became the administrative center of the newly formed Urenskiy District within the Nizhny Novgorod Krai. Thirty years later, the selo of Uren was converted into an urban-type settlement. On 27 December 1973, by a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, Uren was elevated to the status of a district-level town.