Railroad boom of the 1860s bypassed Bronnitsy: eponymous Bronnitsy railroad station, operating since 1864, was actually built 12 versts (13 km) from the center of the town, on the opposite bank of the river.
The dam and bridge across the river were built by local contractor Smorchkov in 1872.
Residents were eagerly leaving Bronnitsy for industrial and service jobs in Moscow: by 1882, Bronnitsky, Podolsky, Serpukhovsky, and Moskovsky Uezds were the leading suppliers of manpower to the metropolis.
Bronnitsky Uyezd was sending twice as many men as densely populated and far better industrialized Bogorodsky Uyezd.

Relative share of migrants to total population, however, was less than in the western uyezds of Moscow Governorate.
Bronnitsy gradually became a minor textile industry hub and its factories employed a substantial share of the remaining population, especially under-age girls.
By the end of the 19th century one quarter of all local girls under the age of twelve and 65% of the girls under the age of fourteen were employed in the industry, compared to only 7% and 23% for Volokolamsky Uyezd.
Jewelers emerged in Bronnitsky Uyezd earlier, in the middle of the 19th century, and by 1900 there were 737 independent, predominantly male craftsmen.
The largest jewellery business, in nearby Sinkovo, employed around twenty workers.
Cost of living in Bronnitsy was very low, at least according to imperial government: the 1902 Army regulations placed it in the seventh grade of housing costs—just a notch above the cheapest eighth grade, or two and a half times cheaper than Moscow and Odessa.

Mayor Alexander Pushkin (the third) struggled to improve the performance of peasant households; increase in average area of a family lot, he reasoned, would enable a switch from obsolete three-field crop rotation to intensive farming methods.
He set up five model farms attended by qualified agronomists and provided subsidized loans to the peasants.
In twenty years of his tenure, the uyezd opened twenty-five new elementary schools, two high schools for boys, and one high school for girls.
Despite Pushkin's efforts, cultural split between landed peasants and urbanized classes widened to a point of armed conflict.
During the 1905 Russian Revolution liberal-minded teachers and medics supported the political changes while the peasants distrusted their promises, fearing a return to dreaded serfdom system.
On one occasion the peasants stormed and burnt down a school building housing a convention of zemstvo employees who barely escaped the mob.

The town slowly grew until World War I. By 1914, Bronnitsy hospital acquired an X-ray machine, one of the first in the region.
According to Bronnitsy Museum staff, in 1914 the Fifth Air Company of Bronnitsy operated from a military airfield near the town; local pilot Konstantin Savitsky, distantly related to the Pushkin family, and lieutenant Mikhail Lyaschenko were killed there in an accident in April 1914.
In November 1914, the company left Bronnitsy; a different air wing was based there from 1917 to 1919.
According to pilot Ivan Spirin, in 1924 Moscow-Bronnitsy-Moscow route was used to test new instrument flying technologies.
Railroad boom of the 1860s bypassed Bronnitsy: eponymous Bronnitsy railroad station, operating since 1864, was actually built 12 versts (13 km) from the center of the town, on the opposite bank of the river. The dam and bridge across the river were built by local contractor Smorchkov in 1872. Residents were eagerly leaving Bronnitsy for industrial and service jobs in Moscow: by 1882, Bronnitsky, Podolsky, Serpukhovsky, and Moskovsky Uezds were the leading suppliers of manpower to the metropolis. Bronnitsky Uyezd was sending twice as many men as densely populated and far better industrialized Bogorodsky Uyezd.
Relative share of migrants to total population, however, was less than in the western uyezds of Moscow Governorate. Bronnitsy gradually became a minor textile industry hub and its factories employed a substantial share of the remaining population, especially under-age girls. By the end of the 19th century one quarter of all local girls under the age of twelve and 65% of the girls under the age of fourteen were employed in the industry, compared to only 7% and 23% for Volokolamsky Uyezd. Jewelers emerged in Bronnitsky Uyezd earlier, in the middle of the 19th century, and by 1900 there were 737 independent, predominantly male craftsmen. The largest jewellery business, in nearby Sinkovo, employed around twenty workers. Cost of living in Bronnitsy was very low, at least according to imperial government: the 1902 Army regulations placed it in the seventh grade of housing costs—just a notch above the cheapest eighth grade, or two and a half times cheaper than Moscow and Odessa.
Mayor Alexander Pushkin (the third) struggled to improve the performance of peasant households; increase in average area of a family lot, he reasoned, would enable a switch from obsolete three-field crop rotation to intensive farming methods. He set up five model farms attended by qualified agronomists and provided subsidized loans to the peasants. In twenty years of his tenure, the uyezd opened twenty-five new elementary schools, two high schools for boys, and one high school for girls. Despite Pushkin's efforts, cultural split between landed peasants and urbanized classes widened to a point of armed conflict. During the 1905 Russian Revolution liberal-minded teachers and medics supported the political changes while the peasants distrusted their promises, fearing a return to dreaded serfdom system. On one occasion the peasants stormed and burnt down a school building housing a convention of zemstvo employees who barely escaped the mob.
The town slowly grew until World War I. By 1914, Bronnitsy hospital acquired an X-ray machine, one of the first in the region. According to Bronnitsy Museum staff, in 1914 the Fifth Air Company of Bronnitsy operated from a military airfield near the town; local pilot Konstantin Savitsky, distantly related to the Pushkin family, and lieutenant Mikhail Lyaschenko were killed there in an accident in April 1914. In November 1914, the company left Bronnitsy; a different air wing was based there from 1917 to 1919. According to pilot Ivan Spirin, in 1924 Moscow-Bronnitsy-Moscow route was used to test new instrument flying technologies.
Bronnitsy