In the 1850s and 1860s, Bronnitsy became home to notable members of the declining Russian nobility. Decembrist Mikhail Fonvizin (1787–1854) and his wife Natalya, a local landowner, retired to Bronnitsy after exile to Siberia. Fonvizin died soon upon return; the widow married another decembrist, Ivan Pushchin (1798–1859). Both Fonvizin and Pushchin were buried near the Cathedral of Archangel. Retired Army colonel Alexander Pushkin (1833–1914), son of poet Alexander Pushkin, served as the justice of the peace in Bronnitsy in 1862–1866, administering the Emancipation reform of 1861. His son, also Alexander Pushkin (1863–1916), born in Bronnitsy, became judge of Bronnitsy uezd () in 1890 and since 1897 later managed the whole zemstvo of the town and country.