It was founded in 1931 as the headquarters of the fast-paced camp system for prisoners, dubbed
Temlag (named after the town of
Temnikov) of the
Gulag system, later transferred to
Dubravlag. The settlement retains its value as one of the centers of the
Russian penitentiary system. The status of urban-type settlement was assigned to the settlement by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Mordovia on April 9, 1959. Located on , north from the district center
Zubova Polyana and from the railway station
Potma. Founded in 1930 on the railway line Potma – Barashevo, it served as an area for harvesting industrial wood and firewood for
Moscow. At the beginning of the 1930s, the village became the center of the CTI network opened here ("Dubravlag"). A factory for wood processing was built in 1941–1945. By the mid-1950s, a school, hotel, bath, residential buildings and a stadium were built, and the
House of Culture was renovated. ==Administrative and municipal status==