The XVIII century

Since the beginning of the Northern War of 1700 - 1721, procurement of the Russian army was done through Tver. Due to a threat of breakthrough of the enemy armies deep into Russia in 1707 Peter I ordered L. Magnitsky to fortify Tver: the worn out walls of the Kremlin were demolished and wood and earth bastions were built on their place (about 4,500 people were occupied with this work). After the foundation of St. Petersburg and relocation of the capital of the Russian state to it the role of Tver as a transshipment point at the intersection of the St. Petersburg road with the Volga River grew dramatically (construction of the Vyshny Volochek water system that connected the Volga River with the Baltic Sea contributed to this too). In 1708, Tver was included into the newly formed Ingermanland Governorate (since 1710, St. Petersburg Governorate), in 1719 it became a center of Tver Province within St. Petersburg Governorate (in 1727, it was attributed to Novgorod Governorate).

The first and the only big chemical enterprise of merchant D. Tomilin appeared and worked in Tver between 1719 and 1746. This was the Tver manufactory for production of turpentine, rosin and colophony. In 1760, merchant Svetogorov built a leather and rope manufactory. Horse-cab driving and maintenance of ships in the water route to St. Petersburg grew widespread in Tver. The Digit School (the first educational institution) was opened in Tver in 1716, a school for education of children of the clergy that was transformed into the Tver seminary later was opened in 1722.

In the first half of the 18th century, the look of the city did not change very much. The buildings remained mostly wooden and only churches were made of stone (the Assumption Cathedral of the Otroch Monastery and churches of Resurrection (Three Confessors), Trinity over the Volga River, Nativity in Rybaky (Boris and Gleb Church) survived, as well as some state buildings and houses of the wealthiest residents of the city (Arefyev's house). The fire of May 12 of 1763 actually destroyed the city (852 households, almost all state buildings, the shopping arcade, the shopping stalls were burnt and many churched were damaged). Bearing in mind the importance of Tver as a point on the St. Petersburg-Moscow road, the government of Catherine II took emergency measures for restoration of the city. Architect P. R. Nikitin was sent to Tver to compose a new development plan. The project composed under his supervision was approved in autumn of 1763 and restoration work began in October of 1763. A special "architect team" supervised the course of work. Construction was done mostly on the territory of the Kremlin and Zagorodskoy suburb: the Traveling Palace was built (architects P. R. Nikitin and M. F. Kazakov), ensembles of the Octagonal Square (Lenina Square now) was created, as well as the Stepana Razina Embankment, the Voznesenskaya Street (Sovetskaya now) and other central streets were developed.

In 1773, a new fire eliminated almost the entire Zavolzhskaya part of the city and hence new plans for development of Zavolzhye (the part of the city over the Volga River) and Zatverechye (the part of the city over the Tvertsa River) were worked out and approved and such plans were approved for Zatmachye (the part of the city over the Tmaka River) in 1777. Construction of the 1760s-1770s changed the look of Tver completely: the city received regular layout, the streets were filled with stone buildings located as "united façade." Construction in Tver was the first experience of reconstruction of a big provincial center of Russia. A three-beam composition of the plan of the city was created under supervision of P. R. Nikitin (it survived as a city-building monument of the epoch of classicism).

In 1775, Tver became the center of newly established Tver Vicarious Authority (since 1796, Tver Governorate). In 1776, a small (two-class) school was opened in Tver and the main (four-class) school, two poorhouses for disabled and elderly and a governorate hospital for 40 beds were opened in 1777 (all these institutions were subordinated to the governorate department of public assistance). By the end of the 18th century, there were up to 70 small semi-handicraft enterprises in Tver (spinning, canvas, leather, candle, butter and wax, groats etc).