Louis was founded on 14 June 1766 by colonists recruited by LeRoi & Pictet. The colony of Chasselois was destroyed in 1785 and many of its surviving inhabitants relocated to Louis.
Today, what remains of the former colony of Louis is known as Stepnoye (not to be confused with the former colony of Stahl am Tarlyk, which was also known by the names Stepnoye).
In 1889, the colonists of the daughter colony of Hoffental acquired the old Catholic Church in Louis and used its lumber in the construction of the Lutheran Church in Hoffental.
A new Roman Catholic Church was built of stone and dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua.
The parish in Louis was served by the following priests:
Konrad Keller (1883-1884)
Alexander Staub (1894-1895)
Alexander Stang (1895-1897)
Eduard Dittler (1897-1914)
Emmanuel Bader, deacon (1928-?)
|
Year
|
Households
|
Population
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total
|
Male
|
Female
|
||
| 1767 |
57
|
193
|
|
|
| 1769 |
50
|
202
|
103
|
99
|
| 1773 |
50
|
237
|
118
|
119
|
| 1788 |
47
|
227
|
119
|
108
|
| 1798 |
51
|
307
|
159
|
148
|
| 1816 |
94
|
533
|
275
|
258
|
| 1834 |
142
|
1,056
|
551
|
505
|
| 1850 |
178
|
1,714
|
876
|
838
|
| 1857 |
198
|
1,981
|
1,000
|
981
|
| 1859 |
198
|
2,091
|
1,049
|
1,042
|
| 1883 |
|
2,647
|
|
|
| 1888 |
450
|
2,792
|
1,423
|
1,369
|
| 1891 |
|
|
|
|
| 1894 |
|
|
|
|
| 1897 |
|
3,208*
|
1,630
|
1,578
|
| 1905 |
|
4,759
|
|
|
| 1908 |
530
|
5,020
|
2,590
|
2,430
|
| 1912 |
|
5,393
|
|
|
| 1920 |
755
|
4,315
|
|
|
| 1922 |
|
1,823
|
|
|
| 1926** |
545
|
2,744
|
1,328
|
1,416
|
| 1931*** |
|
4,246
|
|
|
*Of whom 3,193 were German.
**Of whom 2,740 were German (541 households: 1,324 male & 1,416 female).
***Of whom 4,240 were German.
- Louis (wolgadeutsche.net) in Russian
- Louis, Russia (Kevin Rupp)
- Beratz, Gottieb. The German colonies on the Lower Volga, their origin and early development: a memorial for the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first German settlers on the Volga, 29 June 1764. Translated by Adam Giesinger (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1991): 351.
- Diesendorf, V.F. Die Deutschen Russlands : Siedlungen und Siedlungsgebiete : Lexicon. Moscow, 2006.
- Orlov, Gregorii. Report of Conditions of Settlements on the Volga to Catherine II, 14 February 1769.
- Pallas, P.S. Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs. Theil 3,2, Reise aus Sibirien zurueck an die Wolga im 1773sten Jahr (St. Petersburg: Kaiserl. Academie der Wissenschaften, 1776): 612.
- Preliminary Results of the Soviet Census of 1926 on the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Pokrovsk, 1927): 28-83.
- Schnurr, Joseph. Die Kirchen und das religiöse Leben der Russlanddeutschen - Katholischer Teil (Stuttgart: Selbstverlag Joseph Schnurr, 1972): 127-128.
- "Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 17.
51.379167, 46.85
Migrated From
Immigration Locations
Map showing Louis (1935).
Architectural rendering of the Catholic Church in Louis.
Source: Wolgadeutsche.net via Jorge Bohn.
Architectural rendering of the altar in the Roman Catholic Church in Louis. Source: wolgadeutsche.net