Vladimir Nikolayevich Polivanov

Vladimir Nikolayevich Polivanov was a Simbirsk public figure and a hereditary nobleman of the Polivanov family. After graduating from the Simbirsk Classical Gymnasium, he received a law degree from Kazan University. Subsequently he served in the Chancellery of the Committee of Ministers and in the Chancellery of the State Secretary, and also held the position of director of the St. Petersburg Prison Committee. Soon Polivanov left government service and devoted himself to local self-government (zemstvo) work.

From 1875 he was repeatedly elected an honorary justice of the peace in the Karsun and Simbirsk uyezds, and from 1877 he served as an honorary trustee of the Simbirsk Gymnasium. He also chaired the Simbirsk district board of the Imperial Society for the Rescue on the Waters (1877–1891) and the Simbirsk Agricultural Society. In 1890, at his estate Akshuat, Polivanov founded the first private museum in the Simbirsk Governorate, constructing a dedicated building for its exhibitions in the style of an ancient temple.

In addition to his museum activities, Polivanov actively developed the region's infrastructure. In 1895 he built the Polivanovo railway station (now the settlement of Polivanovo) near the village of Akshuat. From 1898 to 1915 he was the long-serving provincial leader of the nobility. In 1906 Polivanov was elected a member of the State Council representing the Simbirsk zemstvo. Vladimir Nikolayevich Polivanov died on 24 April (7 May) 1915 in Petrograd and was buried on 29 April in Simbirsk at the cemetery of the Pokrovsky Men's Monastery.