Onești (Romanian pronunciation:[oˈneʃtʲ]; Hungarian: Ónfalva), formerly known as Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, is a city in Bacău County, Romania, with a population of 34,005 inhabitants as of 2021. It is situated in the historical region of Moldavia.
Administratively, the villages of Slobozia and Borzești form part of Onești.
Etymology
Nine settlements named Onești were recorded in the Principality of Moldavia between the 14th and 17th centuries:
Onești on the Cobâle (likely Misihănești, Bacău County): Documented in 1436 as a gift from the Prince to Dan Mesehnă.
Onești (Oinești) in Cârligătura (near Hăușești, Iași County): Located on the border with Balosin. It historical passed through several hands, including protopope Ioil, Giurgiu the scribe, priest Petre, Vlădica the cupbearer, Neaniul the deacon, and eventually High Vornic Ureche; now a vanished settlement.
Onești on the Trotuș (Bacău County): The historical precursor to the modern city of Onești. It was granted to the Bistrița Monastery, with parts later confirmed to Baloș Ciortan and others.
Onești on the Sărata (near Berești, modern-day Ungheni District, Moldova): Noted for a pond confirmed to Toader Dragotă; now a vanished settlement.
The first documentary mention of Onești on the Trotuș dates to December 14, 1458, during the reign of Stephen the Great. The settlement was recorded in a royal land charter, which documented a donation made by Marușca, the daughter of court official Andrieș Slujascul and wife of Negrilă. In this act, she gifted several estates to the Bistrița Monastery, including Onești, Maluri, Lăbășești, Horgul's Well (the site of her father's monastery), and a half-share of both a watermill and the village of Slujești, where her father's court had been located.
The second historical mention of the settlement dates to April 5, 1488, when the regional governor Duma was granted an unpopulated settlement site on the Trotuș River by Stephen the Great. This site was previously associated with an individual recorded as "Oana from Moișa."
While local folk traditions popularized the myth that the city was named after a daughter of Stephen the Great named Oana, historians generally agree that the name derives from an early male landowner named Oană (or Oana) and his descendants, dating back to the foundation period of Moldavia. Scholars Ioan Bogdan and Mihai Costăchescu concluded that the "Oana" referenced in early texts was explicitly "Oană de la Moișa." During this era, Oană was a common male name among the Moldavian nobility, many of whom were rewarded with large estates for their military service to the ruling princes. This widespread usage explains why multiple villages named Onești emerged across historical Moldavia. Contemporary documents show the name used exclusively for men, including references to "Oana, brother of Chirilă" and a royal decree freeing a royal Tatar servant named Oana.
Alternative etymological theories suggest a Turkic origin for the name. Historian Neagu Djuvara argued that Oană is a Cuman name, along Tocsabă. Prior to this, historian Nicolae Iorga had highlighted the Cuman origins of the name Basarabă, as well as that of a Cuman nobleman named Tâncabă (the namesake of Tâncăbești in Ilfov County). Within the Trotuș region, several local toponyms reflect the historical presence of Eurasian steppe nomads. These include the Trotuș River itself (traditionally interpreted as "the river of the Tatars"), the Uz Valley (derived from the Oghuz Turks, known locally as uzi), and the town of Comănești (derived from the Cumans). Additionally, the nearby village of Borzești is named after Borzul (also recorded as Bortz or Borč), a Cuman chieftain documented in 1211.
According to ethnographer Gábor Lükő, the root on- in the name is a personal name of Turkic origin, suggesting that the earliest inhabitants of the settlement may have been of Tatar-Cuman descent.
While several Hungarian authors historically referred to the town as Ónfalva, modern Hungarian inhabitants do not use this term. Researcher Péter Halász noted that even the phonetic variant Onyest was historically rare in local Hungarian.
In the modern era, following the death of Romania's communist leader, the city was renamed Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej on March 22, 1965. It retained this official name until 1990, when it reverted to Onești following the Romanian Revolution.
History
Onești in 1965
The locality was documentary attested as a village on 14 December 1458. In 1952, the communist authorities decided to build a large petrochemical industrial platform (Borzești Petrochemical Plant) and a new related city in the area of Onești and Borzești villages. Borzești, according to legend, was the birthplace of Stephen III of Moldavia. It is the site of the Borzești Church, which was built on his orders in 1493–1494.
Above the borough Malu, on the right-hand side of the river Cașin, were discovered archaeological fragments from a settlement dating from the Neolithic Age.
According to the 2021 census, the population of the municipality of Onești amounts to 34,005 inhabitants, a decrease compared to the previous census in 2011, when 39,172 inhabitants were recorded. The majority of the residents are Romanian (79.75%), while for 19.77%, their ethnic affiliation is unknown. From a confessional point of view, the majority of inhabitants are Orthodox (69.43%), with a Roman Catholic minority (7.87%), and for 20.69%, their confessional affiliation is unknown.
Historical population
Year
Pop.
±%
1956
11,253
—
1966
35,663
+216.9%
1977
41,738
+17.0%
1992
58,810
+40.9%
2002
51,681
−12.1%
2011
39,172
−24.2%
2021
34,005
−13.2%
Economy
Onești is an industrial city with a well-developed economic structure centered around several industrial branches, particularly petrochemical processing on the Borzești Petrochemical Platform. On the city's industrial platform, garment manufacturing, woodworking, the food industry, and other services are other important branches.
Refinery No. 10 Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (1968)
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej Synthetic Rubber and Petrochemical Plant (1968)
Borzești Power Station (1950s–1960s)
Borzești Chemical Plant (1960s)
The Borzești Greenhouses, on Red Hill (1980s)
Interior of the Borzești Greenhouses
Onești Forestry Exploitation and Transport Enterprise (1969)
In 1842, a mill was built, worked by the slaves of the landowner Alecu Aslan, followed later by other small watermills. There were also two boyar distilleries for manufacturing grain brandy, as well as two blacksmith shops and two inns for marketing the alcoholic beverages produced in the area.
Transelectrica, via the Gutinaș 400/220/110 kV transformer substation
Termon
Machine Building Industry
UTON (former Borzești Chemical Equipment Enterprise, established in 1974), defunct unit
GOSPOMAS (former Borzești Manufacturing Center, former CRCCFMS, spun off from the Bacău Agricultural Mechanization Station (SMA) in 1983), an enterprise for agricultural machinery, hydraulic pumps, and auto parts, defunct unit
Textile Industry
MODEON (former garment factory, established in 1976), clothing factory operating under the lohn (cut-make-trim) system
„Flacăra” SOCOM (National Union of Handicraft Cooperatives), a handicraft cooperative society
Maremod
Autoliv
Food Industry
Croco
Albrau Group
Panimon (former bakery factory, established in 1978),[2] bakery products factory
Agricultorul Group
The Milk Factory, defunct
SERON and SERE ONEȘTI (former Onești Greenhouses and Borzești Greenhouses), vegetable greenhouses established in 1963. The greenhouses inside the city were transformed into a Pa&Co factory, while those on Red Hill were demolished.
The Ice and Juice Factory, defunct
Wood Industry
Barlinek (former Forestry Exploitation and Transport Enterprise, privatized as Diana Forest), solid and engineered wood flooring factory
Rich Forest, logging/wood exploitation (Chinese citizen Li Ning, the company's director, was declared undesirable for 10 years in December 2012 along with other compatriots due to organized crime offenses).
Pa&Co International, doors and engineered wood flooring factories
Tehnocin (former Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej Industrial Construction Trust), defunct
MECON (former Heavy Equipment and Transport Enterprise for Construction, IUGTC/SUGTC), defunct
Energoconstrucția, defunct
Confer Group, civil engineering works
DMC AG, civil and industrial construction
Gironap
Glass Industry
SART GLASS (former glass factory), established in 1973. Defunct.
Fredi
Geography
Onești is located in the Tazlău-Cașin Depression of the Eastern Carpathians at an average altitude of 210 metres (690ft). It lies at the confluence of the rivers Trotuș, Cașin, Oituz, and Tazlău, some 60km (37mi) southwest of the county capital, Bacău. The city is crossed by the European roadE574 and by the national roads DN11A and DN12A that connect it to Bucharest, to the northern part of the country, and to Transylvania. Rail connections are made through the Căile Ferate Române network, and the proposed A13 Brașov–Bacău Motorway will link the city to the rest of Romania's highway network as a second connection to the country's major cities.
Climate
Onești has a hot-summer humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfa), with hot summer temperatures that frequently go above 30 °C, and maximums reaching 35 °C almost every year. Winters are cool with moderate snowfall and highs safely above freezing. The town has a mean yearly temperature of 10–11 °C, and annual precipitation totals around 600 mm. The most frequent winds blow from the west and south-west.
The microclimate of Onești is significantly shaped by the foehn effect, a consequence of the city's location within the Tazlău-Cașin Depression at the eastern foothills of the Eastern Carpathians. When prevailing westerly air masses ascend the western slopes of the Ciuc and Berzunți mountains, they cool and shed their moisture as precipitation.
The highest recorded temperature is 40.8 °C (105.4 °F), on 5 July 1916, and the lowest is −29.6 °C (−21.3 °F) on 25 January 1942. On 17 December 1989, Onești recorded a temperature of 23.3 °C (73.9 °F), just 0.1 °C lower than Romania's national December record of 23.4 °C (74.1 °F), set at Câmpina in 1985.
Climate data for Onești (elevation 242m, 2014–2026 normals, extremes 1945–present)
Popular tourist attractions are Perchiu Hill and the Hero Cross from atop the aforementioned hill, the Municipal History Museum, a steel monument dedicated to the Romanian national poet Mihai Eminescu, and the city park.
Administration and politics
The municipality of Onești is administered by a mayor and a local council composed of 19 councilors. The mayor, Adrian Jilcu, from the Social Democratic Party, has been in office since 1 November 2024. Following the 2024 local elections, the local council has the following composition by political party:
12345678910Alexandru I. Gonța, „Documente privind istoria României: A. Moldova, veacurile XIV-XVII, 1384-1625. Indicele numelor de locuri”, Editura Academiei Române, București, 1990, p. 180 ISBN973-27-0092-0
123Mihai Costăchescu, „Documente moldovenești dela Ștefan cel Mare”, Institutul de Arte Grafice „Brawo”, Iași, 1933, p. 9
↑Mihai Costăchescu, „Documente moldovenești de la Ștefan cel Mare”, Institutul de Arte Grafice „Brawo”, Iași, 1933, p. 9
↑Leon Șimanschi (coordonator), Georgeta Ignat, Dumitru Agache (colaboratori), „Documenta Romaniae Historica, A. Moldova, Volumul II”, Academia de Științe Sociale și Politice a Republicii Socialiste România, Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, București, 1976, p. 115
12Bogdan F. Romandaș, Vasile Jenică Apostol, Vilică Munteanu, „O istorie a Oneștiului. Restituiri (1458 – 1921)”, Editura „Magic Print”, Onești, 2018, ISBN978-606-622-369-0, p. 11
↑„Documente privind istoria Romîniei: Veacul XV, A. Moldova, Vol. II (1476–1500)”, Academia Republicii Populare Romîne, Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, București, 1854, p. 95
12Ioan Bogdan, „Documentele lui Ștefan cel Mare: vol. I: Hrisoave și cărți domnești (1457–1492)”, Atelierele Grafice Socec & Co., Societate Anonimă, București, 1913, p. 344
123Bogdan F. Romandaș, Vasile Jenică Apostol, Vilică Munteanu, „O istorie a Oneștiului. Restituiri (1458 – 1921)”, Editura „Magic Print”, Onești, 2018, ISBN978-606-622-369-0, p. 12
↑Nicolae Iorga, „Imperiul cumanilor și domnia lui Băsărabă: un capitol din colaborația româno-barbară în Evul Mediu”, Academia Română, Memoriile Secțiunii Științifice, Seria III, Tomul VIII, Mem. 3, Cultura Națională, București, 1928, p. 100
↑Nicolae Iorga, „Istoria românilor, vol. III Ctitorii”, București, 1937, p. 32
12Nicolae A. Constantinescu, „Dicționar onomastic romînesc”, Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, București, 1963, p. 211
↑„Revista de horticultură și viticultură”, Volumul 12, Ministerul Agriculturii, Industriei Alimentare și Apelor din Republica Populară Română, București, 1963, p. 9
_serele_Borzesti.jpg)
