The Early Days of the School

My search for any form of visuals of the school campus, led me to the Church Park convent in Chennai, recently.

Here, I was given a xerox copy of an article which appeared in a school magazine - on the school's history.

I reproduce the note -

The nuns had to face trials of every kind; however with Government aid, the present premises was purchased and the school moved to Pudupet in 1917.

During the period - 1911 - 1917, the Education department was very favourably impressed with the results ad recoded in its Inspection Reports the zeal and selfless service shown by the nuns in their noble work.

In 1924, and again in 1933 additional classrooms were put up to accommodate the increasing numbers.

The poor children who attend school gets  daily meal and receive clothing thrice a year'

Is it possible to meet people today whose parents may have studied in the 1911-1920s era at St Anthony's?

Can their sharing of stories help build a story of the early years of the school?

I will be happy to get some leads.

The photo, a bad copy posted here is of the students who attended the popular Secretaryial Course run on the school campus.

One can locate tiled as well as Madras Terrace buildings. And a nice garden too. Where was the small gate with creepers above it located?

What are the origins of our school?

What was the origin of our school?

Did it start as an independent institution or did the Presentation nuns take charge of another school?

What the facts indicate is this -

That the local church requested the Presentation nuns based in Vepery to help manage a small school that was run by St Anthony's Church in Pudupet ( photo above).

And that is how the nuns landed in Pudupet.

Where was that school located?

Inside the church campus or on what we students simply called First Street?

I have walked around the church and 1st Street to try and get an answer. And it is important we get one to trace the origins of the school.

The records of the Presentation nuns may be poor; perhaps I need to dig into the archives of the church.

This is what the Archdiocese note on its web site says -

From the year 1642 to 1832, the Capuchin Fathers ministered to the needs of the local people. In 1873 Pudupet Church was erected as a Parish. The foundation stone for a new Church was laid by His Excellency the Most Rev Peter Pisani, Delegate Apostolic of East Indies on 5th January 1921, the 2nd day of the National Marian Congress in the presence of Most Rev John Aelen, Archbishop of Madras. The Church was constructed and consecrated on 14th September 1927 by the Archbishop of Madras, in honour of St Anthony of Padua. 

A Parish school is run for the poor Anglo-Indian children by the sisters of the Presentation Order and a school of commerce. St Anne’s Congregation runs a Tamil school. The renovation of the present Church was undertaken by Rev Fr A Vijay Kiran and completed on 14th September 2002.

So were the nuns invited to minister to poor Anglo-Indians here? Seems very probable. 

The Anglo indian community had by then spread from George Town to New Town - the Vepery area, and must have also migrated to Egmore-Pudupet. Did the jobs in the Railways move them here? Did their children study in Pudupet?

As we go along, I hope to find out the nature of the Anglo-Indians who lived in Pudupet in the 19th century. If you know of families with long histories and I can talk to them, do let me know.