site.btaSeptember 2, 1947: City of Dimitrovgrad Is Established

On September 2, Dimitrovgrad (Southern Bulgaria) celebrates its City Day, marking the anniversary of its founding in 1947. With Decree No. 3 of the Council of Ministers, the villages of Rakovski and Mariyno in Haskovo District and Chernokonyovo in Chirpan District were merged to form a new city, officially announced in the State Gazette on 6 September 1947.

Planned as a model industrial center in the early years of the communist regime, Dimitrovgrad was built largely by youth brigades, promoted as symbols of socialist progress and widely used for communist propaganda.

The city was designed to support the rapid industrialization of Southern Bulgaria, hosting major plants such as the Neochim chemical plant (originally called Stalin), the cement and construction materials factories, and textile and food-processing enterprises.