The first gunpowder factory in Petersburg was the factory on the Gorodskaya (now Petrograd) side. By the common name for gunpowder at that time – "zelie" – it was called the Zeleiny (Gunpowder) factory.
The exact time of foundation and location of the Zeleiny factory are not precisely known. This was noted by K. I. Kamenev in his "Historical Description of the Okhta Gunpowder Factory," published at the end of the 19th century. (The first chapter of the first part of this work is devoted to the establishment of state-owned gunpowder factories in the Saint Petersburg province.) The encyclopedia "Saint Petersburg," published in 2004, states that the Zeleiny factory was laid down in 1710 in the northwestern part of Berezovoy (now Petrograd) Island, at the end of a clearing that ran from the fortress crownwork, now called the Peter and Paul Fortress, to the shore of the Malaya Nevka River, near the modern Bolshoy Krestovsky Bridge. However, specialists in toponymy hold a different view. In the book "Petersburg in Street Names" by A. G. Vladimirovich and A. D. Erofeev, published in 2009, and in the Great Toponymic Encyclopedia of Saint Petersburg, 2013 edition, it is said that the Zeleiny factory was located in the western part of Aptekarsky Island, while on the current Petrograd Island there was the Zeleinaya Sloboda, where the workers of this factory lived. One way or another, the enterprise was situated near the mouth of the Karpovka River. It occupied a large area, which was fenced with a palisade (according to other sources, surrounded by a moat and rampart).
If one trusts the same encyclopedia "Saint Petersburg," the Zeleiny factory began operations in 1714. Initially, it reprocessed substandard gunpowder brought from the Admiralty and other places, since there was simply not enough sulfur to produce its own gunpowder. At least, this is how K. I. Kamenev explains the very narrow profile of the enterprise at that time. Soon, full-scale production was established at the factory.
By the end of the 18th century, the Saint Petersburg gunpowder factory had ceased to justify itself. It posed a danger to the population of the growing capital, and the amount of gunpowder produced there was decreasing, mainly for "amusement fires," that is, fireworks. In 1801, the Zeleiny factory was liquidated. Part of its equipment and personnel were transferred to the Okhta Gunpowder Factory.
The fact that the Zeleiny factory and the settlement associated with it once existed on the current Petrograd side is recalled by the streets Bolshaya Zelenina, Malaya Zelenina, and Glukhaya Zelenina, in whose names the transformed word "zelie" is hidden. In the past, these streets were also called Zeleiny.
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