Mussoorie nearing 200, landmarks intact

Ajay Ramola

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Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, December 13  

The historic hill town of Mussoorie has changed enormously in social and economic terms in the last 100 years. However, the basic architectural character of the town has seen minimal changes.

Former students of Woodstock School of 1940s on visits here often say if one  walks from Sister’s Bazaar to Company Garden, he would be walking along exactly the same roads and passing by the same landmarks that were present 100 years ago.

The places such as Char Dukan, Mullingar, Clock Tower, Hebron Church, Picture Palace, Methodist Church, SBI building, near Rialto Cinema Hall, Library Bazaar, Chateau Kapoorthala that existed then have changed to the extent they have been renovated. However, they still have the basic architecture, reminding of  the British era.

Well-known Scottish born author Bill Aitkin says, “There is no town of this size anywhere in India that has changed so little in its basic and overall layout as Mussoorie has”. If one does not look at the date of the maps of Mussoorie that are 100 years old, he would find striking similarities between these and the present day maps of the town.” 

When one sees the present day maps of Dehradun, he notices that it has changed dramatically in the past 100 years when compared with Mussoorie in terms of the basic layout of roads.

With the bicentennial of the town a few years hence, many locals, especially historians, are musing over various changes the “Queen of the Hills” has seen since it was founded as a convalescent depot and hunting locale nearly two centuries ago. Famous Captain Federik Young of the Sirmour Rifles built his residence here in 1824 and named it Mullingar. Earlier he built a small shooting hut on the present-day Camel’s Back Road in 1823. The present day Mussoorie is a totally different place.

Most of all, Mussoorie has been protected from excessive development as it is a hill station with steep and unstable slopes even though illegal constructions and encroachment have surfaced in the past few decades. Landour has been more protected as it is a cantonment though even there are some well-known cases of illegal construction, such as by an hotelier. 

Shantanu Sarkar, a Landour-based environmentalist and historian, has a good collection of antique and historical maps, including of the Doon valley and Mussoorie of the late 18th century. These old maps are treasure troves of the local history, especially considering that Mussoorie is now dominated, many locals lament, by the hotel lobby, which has been least interested in the history of the town. Sarkar reveals with the help of historical maps that all landmarks have undergone little changes. Picture Palace, Mall Road, Library, Kulri Bazaar and Survey Chowk are as important today as they were 120 years ago, since key roads meet at these locations. Sarkar's map collection shows that the original Doon-Mussoorie road came up via Barlowganj and Jharipani, with a particularly steep section climbing from Jaypee hotel in Barlowganj to the Junior School of Wynberg-Allen. The steep road still exists but only some daring locals are willing to drive on it, and usually only downhill. 

Indeed, a few roads have been built in Mussoorie since 1890s. Almost all new roads are laid on the old bridle paths and cart tracks, which were made pucca and widened. The only completely new road built since 1890s is the Tehri bypass, which connects the Dehradun road to Bataghat, passing through the land owned by Wynberg Allen School and Woodstock School.

Sarkar notes that the British-era ethnic composition of the western population can be discerned by studying the house names. Landour famously had, and still has, a strong American connection by virtue of Woodstock School. But among the Britons in Mussoorie, there were a disproportionate number of Scottish, Irish and Welsh families in comparison to English. The answer lies in the British history as both East India Company and its army had a disproportionate number of Scots, including civilian, though they represented less than 10 per cent of the total population of the United Kingdom.

The key factor was that Scotland, Ireland and Wales were much poorer and backward than England itself, and a large number of Scots, Irish and Welsh families came to India to make a living, even after the East India Company was dissolved in 1858. Houses with Scottish names such as Kincarig, Tullahmore, Glenthorne and Kirkville, along with Irish names such as Tipperary and Welsh names such as Snowdon still exist in Mussoorie.

Changes in house names tell their own ethnic story. Sarkar says, "My own house in Landour is named Cosy Nook, which is a typical English house name.  However, from 1910 to 1930s, the property was named Lanark House since a Scottish family from Lanarkshire in Scotland owned it at that time. Before 1910, it was known as Dovedale, another typically English name, as a British army officer had built the house in 1860.”

Senior citizen and travel writer from Mussoorie Hugh Gantzer says the noticeable change he finds here is that earlier roads were constructed with gravel (bazri) but now they are being built with tarcoal and concrete. 

There has been no change in the basic structure of the Mussoorie Library at Gandhi Chowk all due to the efforts of its members who have persisted with the old British-time pillars and furniture to this date, says Gantzer.

Stifles Hotel had a ballroom and was a place where couples relaxed and entertained themselves during the British Raj. It has been converted into Hotel Garhwal Terrace. The government has taken over some old buildings and converted them into police stations, says Gantzer.

Dense forests covered the place where the town exists

The horseshoe ridge at the mountain top that Captain Fredrik Young and FJ Shore discovered as Mussoorie was a dense forest with small-sized grassy patches scattered all over.  It is also believed that villagers, namely from Kyarkuli and Bhatta, then used to graze cattle here and had a few cowsheds.

There is a popular belief that a temple of Goddess Durga existed over the ridges of Mussoorie and at the place where the British later built Cecil Hotel (now Prince hotel also known as Amawan Palace) before their arrival in Mussoorie. 

Some residents say that villagers came to pray near the hotel in 1950s and 60s but the present management of the hotel has not come across any such activity here.

 With no remains of the temple available, corroboration of the claims has become difficult. Hence, it will be fair enough to say that the area was a forest of oak, rhododendrons and devdars and was merely a place for hunting wildlife. The place was used by dacoits and bandits as a hideout when Captain Fredrik Young arrived here from Dehradun.

 In 1830, Henry Bohle from Meerut opened a brewery to cater to soldiers who stayed here for a short period. Mackinnon started the first school here in 1834 and it was called the seminary. Cairnevelle School also opened then but was later shut down. It now houses the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Academy. Woodstock School, Wynberg Allen School, St George’s College, Oak Grove School, Vincent Hill School and others were also established as most of the British parents could not send their wards to study in Europe due to wars and other emergencies. Today, Mussoorie is known for its quality public school education as these schools still serve children earnestly.

The town also has Masonic Lodge Dalhousie that was built in 1854. The building that the Freemasons then used is situated near the Picture Palace bus stand. The members of the Freemason Society still practise rituals here.