Short answers, pulled from the story.
Yekaterinburg was officially founded on the 18th of November 1723 through a test run of bloomery trip hammers. Mining specialist Johann Blüher and statesman Vasily Tatishchev selected this location on the Iset River to build a massive iron-making plant under the decree of Russian Emperor Peter the Great.
Deposed Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their children Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Tsarevich Alexei were murdered inside the Ipatiev House during the early morning hours of the 17th of July 1918. Bolsheviks killed these members of the Romanov family while Czechoslovak Legions closed on the city.
The city changed its name to Sverdlovsk in 1924 to honor Bolshevik leader Yakov Sverdlov. It retained this name until the 23rd of September 1991 when it regained its historical name following the failure of the coup d'état attempt and subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union.
At least 68 people died from an anthrax leak originating from the Sverdlovsk-19 military facility between April and May 1979. This biological weapons program release caused dozens of deaths and remains a subject of historical controversy involving secret operations conducted by military authorities within the Soviet Union.
Yekaterinburg sits on the eastern side of the Ural Mountains dividing Europe from Asia east of Moscow in North Asia. The Iset River flows from the Urals into the Tobol River bisecting the city while borders Verkh-Isetskiy Pond through which it continues its journey.