Baloži

Baloži is a small town in Ķekava Municipality in the Vidzeme region of Latvia, about twelve kilometres from the centre of the capital, Riga. Its German name is Rollbusch. The town counted 6,746 residents in 2021. It grew up as a village soon after the Second World War to house workers at the nearby peat factory, and the oldest quarter still shows a Stalinist building style. During the 1970s the settlement expanded toward the A7 highway, and in the 1980s that new part was built as a modern residential district called Titurga. Baloži received town rights in 1991. After the Latvian administrative reform of 2009 it became part of Ķekava Municipality and is one of the few Latvian towns that is not a municipal centre. A small peat railway of 28 kilometres once served the local factory.