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A small historical reference
Geography and History: Ogre is the principal town of Ogre Municipality (and previously Ogre District) in Central Latvia, 36 kilometres (22 miles) east of the capital Riga, situated at the confluence of the Daugava and Ogre rivers. It has been a town since 1928.
Ogre is composed of three parts: Jaunogre (meaning "New Ogre"), Ogre (the center of the town), and Pārogre (meaning "Ogre across [the river]" though not all of the named region is across the river).
The name of the town comes from the Ogre river. The Ogre village was first mentioned in 1206, called "Oger" in German. In 1861, when a railway Riga–Daugavpils was built, Riga's residents started to build summer cottages here. In 1862 Ogre became a health resort.
The town's coat of arms was granted in 1938 and shows the beautiful river and pinewoods of Ogre. There is a cultural centre, an art school and a music school in Ogre. It has three Latvian language schools, and one Russian language school — Jaunogre Secondary School.
The town also has a cemetery with the remains of German soldiers who died during the First and Second World Wars, or died in captivity between 1944 and 1951.
Ogre is the hometown for most recent (2016/17) Latvian ice hockey champions HK Kurbads.
Date of foundation: 1928
Population: 26 760
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