The State Publishing House had its origins in Imperial Russia as the Royal Print Yard in St. Petersburg. As the Red Army increased its control over the provinces and cities in former Imperial Russia, the State Publishing House developed offices outside St. Petersburg. Ekaterinburg is located east of the Ural Mountains and it was a center for revolutionary activity in the Urals before and during the Russian Civil War. In 1924 the city was named Sverdlovsk in honor of Yakov Sverdlov, a deceased Bolshevik leader who was chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.