Image of the Samara entrepreneur M. D. Chelyshov

The process of formation and development of entrepreneurship affected all spheres of economic and socio-cultural sphere of the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries, which contributed to the formation of a new layer of business community, actively involved in the activities of local government and the first Russian parliament. In the present article an attempt to reconstruct the biography of one of the prominent entrepreneurs of Samara province M. D. Chelyshov, who in addition to economic activity, participating in the work of the city Duma, city head and deputy of the III State Duma was engaged in solving urban, regional and national problems, which allowed to determine the characteristic features of his personality.