Walter
Names
Grechikhino, Grechinnaya Luka, Grechishinaya Luka, Gretschinaja Luka, Walter
Location
51º07' N 44º48' E
History
      Walter was founded on 25 August 1767 by the Government as a Lutheran colony.
Churches
      In the early years, Walter was part of the Frank parish. A new Lutheran church was dedicated in Walter in 1902.
Pastors
1768-1770 Johann Friedrich Mittelstädt
1771-1776 Johann Friedrich Heitzig
1778-1782 Laurentius Ahlbaum
1782-1786 Samuel Traugott Büttner
1788-1817 Franz August Flittner
Population
Population Table
Year
Households
Population
Total
Male
Female
1767
107
376
177
199
1769
99
382
188
194
1773
99
431
224
207
1788
622
1798
199
762
413
349
1816
1,173
1834
246
1,989
1850
2,899
1857
253
1859
3,264
1885
2,044
1891
1894
1897
2,427*
1,219
1,208
1904
1911
2,291
1920
286**
2,556
1922
2,559
1923
2,754
1926
389
2,494
1,219
1,275
1931
2,138***
*Of whom 2,424 were German.
**Of which 284 households were German.
***Of whom 2,136 were German.
Sources:
- 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): 623.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 4 (Göttingen: Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2008): 295-319.
- Pleve, Igor R. The German Colonies on the Volga: The Second Half of the Eighteenth Century, translated by Richard Rye (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2001): 318.
- "Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 18.
External Links
- Walter, Russia (Teresa Sardina)
- Video of church ruins, July 2010 (Tanja Schell)
- 2nd Video of church ruins (STforum)
- Video of Medveditsa River near Walter (STforum)
Last updated 31 May 2013.
Map showing Walter (1935).


Walter Lutheran Church (1920s)
Courtesy of Walter web site.


Walter Lutheran Church, 1902.
Courtesy of Walter web site.


Walter Lutheran Church (2006).
Photo courtesy of Steve Schreiber.


Walter Lutheran Church (2006).
Photo courtesy of Steve Schreiber.


House in Walter (2006).
Photo courtesy of Steve Schreiber.


Walter Lutheran Church (2005).
Photo courtesy of David Karber.


Map of Walter ca. 1912 (updated).
Source: Kathrin Mayer.