The Madras Port (now called Chennai Port) is more than 125 years old. The construction of this pier was a major step as previously, bringing people and goods to land via boats from large ships was treacherous.
Postmarked 19 Feb [1907] and addressed
[Original caption] San Thome Cathedral. The town of S. Thome, now part of Madras City, was named after the Portugese pioneers, after St. Thomas the Apostle, who is said to have evangelized the country.
[Original caption] Madras, Senate House. This handsome building, designed by Mr. Chisholm, was begun in 1874 and completed in 1879, at a cost of nearly three hundred thousand rupees.
Once one of the jewels of Chennai, the People's Park was constructed between 1859-1861 and extended over 112 acres. Today it is apparently largely neglected with much of the land used for other purposes.
[Original caption] Madras, Date Palms. This is a corner, probably of the People's Park at Madras, which the city owes to energy of its sometime Governor, Sir Charles Trevelyan.
[Original caption] This is a road in the thickly-populated native quarter of Black Town, west of the Esplanade.
Or is he trying to keep cool? This series of humourous postcards seems to feature the same protagonist.
A humourous postcard showing a sleeping father, who is supposed to be pulling the punkah [fan] string to cool the off-framed European, but instead has delegated the task to his son. The punkahwallah not doing his duty was a common postcard theme.
[Original caption] Victoria Hall, built 1883-1888 in honor of the Empress of India, was designed by Chisholm in keeping with the style of the Central Railway Station, one of the finest in India.
[Original caption] Madras, Central Station. This is one of the largest and finest stations in all India.
