Local History Essay (1779-1991) on the history of the formation and development of the largest industrial center of Donbass. The main sources for this publication were the funds of the Russian State Historical Archive (St. Petersburg) and the State Archive of Donetsk Region, materials from the personal archive of authors and materials from historians, local historians and enthusiasts (M. Altera, G. Volodina, K. Klimenko, E. Yasenova, V. Verkhovsky, O. Gnatko, L. Lyakh, L. Mazitova, S. Taptapyants, S. Abukova, Yu. Naumova, V. Pronya, A. Prisunko, A. Semenova, S. Savitsky, N. Rutych-Rutchenko, A. Slovitsky, Prince D. Vachnadze, S. Koryagin, V. Litvinenko, A. Fedonin, Yu. Kiklevich, S. Ribas, V. Petrakov).