[citation needed] The town's history is closely linked to the development of the railway.

The opening of the station, which was then surrounded by woodland, provided a convenient production point for the timber industry, and windmills were built in the area.

In 1919, Shikhrany station became a railway junction, when the Arzamas–Shikhrany line, which had been under construction from 1914, when the last section was completed from the Tsarkli River bridge to Shihrany, and opened to full traffic.

By 1925, when Kanash was granted town status, its population was approximately 2,200.

During World War II, railway production facilities and transit capacity were substantially increased.