Mount road

 "Mount Road, now called Anna Salai, is an ancient, roughly 400-year-old thoroughfare in Chennai, originally a dusty path linking the British East India Company's Fort St. George to St. Thomas Mount."

 

The road's current structure and layout were significantly developed during the governorship of Charles Macartney, who played a key role in shaping it into the artery it is today. 

 Following the defeat of Tipu Sultan in 1799, British officials began building garden bungalows along the road, marking its emergence as a developed area. 

In the 1700s, the road was lined with garden houses and large colonial mansions with balconies and verandas set amidst lush gardens.[6] By the 1800s, Mount Road has become the traders' area of the city of Madras while First Line Beach in Georgetown remained the seat of processing, shipping and manufacturing businesses. However, the business activities of Mount Road was responsible for the city's economic growth. Several giant firms had beginnings on Mount Road, from the Amalgamations group to the TVS group. The road's proximity to the Government House, the home of the Governor, and the palaces of the Nawabs of Arcot resulted in several firms selling cars and other luxury goods setting up shops on the road. Simpson & Co, which moved to its current location opposite Government Estate after 1875, began building carriages and coaches and then cars. In the early 1900s, the road became the entertainment hub for the British.[6] In 1903, the first steam-driven car was taken for its debut drive on Mount Road.

The eponymous Mount Road was originally born out of necessity as a simple cart track connecting Fort St. George to St. Thomas Mount, for the Company officials to reach the military garrison and pilgrims journeying to the chapel. The track was primarily used for troop movements, supply transport, and communication between the fort and the cantonment. As British influence in Madras grew, the track evolved into a well-trodden route for merchants, officials, and travellers, initially functioning as a military and trade artery, with bullock carts and horse-drawn vehicles carrying goods such as textiles, grains, and military provisions. Over time, the road saw increasing civilian use, with European settlers and Indian traders setting up shops and businesses along its length, leading to its transformation into a bustling commercial hub.

An important factor that fuelled the transformation of this dirt road into a motorway was the construction of a bridge over the Adyar River near Saidapet, mitigating the challenges that came with crossing it during floods. In 1726, Armenian merchant Coja Petrus Uscan commissioned the Marmalong Bridge at a personal cost of 30,000 pagodas, making it the first ever bridge to be constructed across the Adyar. Named after the nearby village of Mambalam, the bridge not only facilitated easier access for those travelling to St. Thomas Mount, but also became a crucial infrastructure element, improving connectivity between Fort St. George and the southern regions, thereby contributing to the expansion of Mount Road and the city’s growth southward. Although the original structure was replaced in 1966 by the Maraimalai Adigal Bridge,

Broadway

 

"Broadway (officially known as Prakasam Salai, after the freedom fighter T. Prakasam) is one of the historical thoroughfares of the commercial centre of George Town in chennai. 

The road runs north–south connecting China Bazaar Road in the south with Ibrahim Sahib Street (Old Jail Road) in the north. The road divides George Town into Muthialpet and Peddanaickenpet"

 

 until the 16th century, the road and the surrounding region, being near the coast, had many sand ridges. As the sea level rose, it inundated these regions

when the sea withdrew several lagoons and ridges were left behind The sandy ridges

which rose up to about 12 feet in height remained places of safety, where settlements were established. 

Several valleys ran around the ridges. Some of these valleys served as drainage channels. Until the late 18th century, the area on which the present day's road lies remained one such unwanted drainage channel,

 known then as Atta Pallam.

 Much of the area was owned by Stephen Popham, a former British MP and later the advocate general in Calcutta, who moved to Madras in 1778. He is credited with establishing a modern police force in the city in 1782.

The area where the General Hospital, Madras United Club and the Park Town post office stand today was then a hill known locally as Narimedu (literally 'mound of foxes'), which was named 'Hoggs Hill' by the British. When the British considered it as a security threat to Fort St. George and decided to level the area, Popham negotiated with them to buy the earth removed from the hill to fill the ditch, and a road was laid on it in 1782.[

 The thoroughfare thus created came to be known as 'Popham's Broadway'.

By the 1890s, the road became known for two food establishments, the first of which was that of P. Venkatachellum, whose condiments and chutneys were popular in England. He is credited with the creation of mulligatawny soup from the local recipe of milagu rasam (milagu thanni).

 The other restaurant was Harrison's, established in 1891, which today is a contemporary hotel in Nungambakkam.

The road was also home to the city's first private hospital run in the 1900s by physician T. A.Sankaranarayanan,

 

Streets of parry's

 2015 Blog "diaries of nelson"

A big thanks.

https://diariesofnelson.wordpress.com/2015/06/18/23-shopping-streets-of-parrys/

Map of Fort St George and city

Egmore Railway station,

 

Egmore Railway station, now all of 110 years old, brings back fond memories of life in Chennai in the 1930s and ’40s, particularly of its refreshment room, where we would go after shopping at the city’s only mall, Moore Market, and have a treat

For more ....

.Musings

Chennai Egmore station history:

 The station was constructed between 1906 and 1908 as the South Indian Railway Company's terminus, designed in the Indo-Saracenic architectural style and built on the site of a historic 18th-century fort. 

It served as a crucial gateway to South India, connecting to major cities like Trivandrum and Madurai, and was a significant landmark due to its distinctive design and large open spaces. 

The station was built to alleviate congestion in the area and was also noted for its unique feature allowing horse carriages direct access to the trains.  

Chennai Port, formerly known as Madras Port, is the second largest container port of India, behind Mumbai's Jawaharlal Nehru Port also known as Nhava Sheva. The port is the largest one in the Bay of Bengal. It is the third-oldest port among the 12 major ports of India with official port operations beginning in 1881, although maritime trade started much earlier in 1639 on the undeveloped shore.

An established port of trade of British India since the 1600s, the port remains a primary reason for the economic growth of Tamilnadu especially for the manufacturing boom and has contributed greatly to the development of the city

Higginbothams book store

 

Higginbotham's is an Indian bookstore chain and publisher based in the city of Chennai. The company's first bookstore at Mount Road, Chennai is India's oldest bookshop still in existence, founded in 1844. 

An English librarian named Abel Joshua Higginbotham reportedly arrived in India as a British stowaway. The captain of the ship ejected him from the ship at Madras port, after he was discovered on board

In the 1840s, he found employment as a librarian with a bookstore named Wesleyan Book Shop run by Protestant missionaries. However, the store suffered heavy losses and the missionaries who ran the business decided to sell their shop for a low price. Higginbotham purchased the business, set up his own store and called it "Higginbotham's" in the year 1844.

Customers included British Prime Minister Clement Attlee (in office 1945-1951) to the last Maharaja of Mysore, Jayachamaraja Wodeyar. 

 From 1890 to 1920, Higginbotham's were the sole suppliers to the Connemara Public Library

Abel Joshua Higginbotham served as the Sheriff of Madras in 1888 and 1889.

As business grew, the firm found a new MD in Abel’s son, C.H. Higginbotham, who expanded the firm beyond the city by establishing outlets in railway stations across South India, 

Since 1949, Higginbotham's has been owned by the Amalgamations Group

Ripon building

 

Commissioned in 1909, the Ripon Building was designed by G.T.S. Harris. The foundation stone was laid by Lord Minto, Governor General and Viceroy of India.

It was built by Loganatha Mudaliar, and took four years to build at a cost of ₹750,000

The Ripon building was named after Lord Ripon, Governor-General of British India and the Father of local self-government. Earl of Minto, the then Viceroy laid the foundation on 12 December 1909.

The Municipal Corporation of Madras, after functioning from several other places including Errabalu Chetty Street, settled at

 Ripon building in 1913