Not sure if this is surprising or unique, but some interesting facts about Bengaluru Cantonment area and the place names there. As you can see from the 1924 Map, it was a well planned area.
After the fall of Srirangapatnam, the British liked the climate of Bangalore, and they moved their garrison here.
The present day MG Road was South Parade, and that was where the British elite used to gather for dinners, parties then. Even now you still find Brigade Road, Infantry Road, Cavalry Road, in that area, as well as places like Richmond Town, Cooke Town, Cox Town.
Now most of these places have been renamed.
Cox Town was renamed as Sarvagnanagara, after the 16th century poet, though it's still popular as Cox Town. This place has a large Tamil population, and there is also a Sindhi colony here.
Incidentally Cox Town has many roads named after famous campaigns the Madras Sappers took part in, you have the Assaye Road, Meanee Avenue and Malakand Lines Training Grounds after the Siege of Malakand.
Austin Town is now Ferdinand Kittel Nagara after a Lutheran priest.
Benson Town is now Kadamba Nagara after the dynasty.
Shivaji Nagar was actually Blackpally during the British Raj.
Fraser Town is renamed as Pulakeshin Nagar.
Maclver Town is renamed as Shantala Nagar, after a Hoyslava Queen.
Murphy Town was renamed as Hoysala Nagara.
Richmond Town renamed after Sir Mirza Ismail, Dewan of Mysore.
Jayanagar was founded in 1948, and was one of the first planned neighborhoods in Bengaluru. It's believed to have been named after then Mysuru Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar. Traditionally regarded as Bengaluru's Southern End, the South End Circle and the Ashoka Pillar was believed to mark this end point. The neighborhood is home to many famous Bengalurians, that include Naryana Murthy, Anil Kumble, actor Prakash Belawadi, BS Chandrashekhar.
Yeshwantpur is named after Yeshwantrao Ghorpade, ruler of the princely state of Sandur, and a close friend of Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar. It was a small village where both of them used to meet while going on hunting, and often had long conversations well into the night.
As a token of their friendship, Wodeyar named this place after him. Yeshwantpur Railway Junction was comissioned by Chamarajendra Wadiyar in 1881. The neighborhood has many historical places. Deewanarapalya, so called after the Mysore Dewan who had his residential quarters here. Subedarpalya after the Subedar of Mysore.
Bangalore Pethes
Kempe Gowda had this idea of building a huge city, on an expedition to Shivanasamudra with his minister Veeranna and adviser Gidde Gowda.
With the permission of the Vijayanagara Emperor Achyutaraya, younger brother of Sri Krishnadeva Raya, he built the Bangalore Fort and the town surrounding it in 1537 AD, and moved his capital from Yelahanka to Bengaluru Pethe.
He built a red fort with 8 gates, and a moat surrounding it. The Fort had two main roads running from North to South and East to West, with other parallel or perpendicular roads to them. This in a way explains the layouts of older parts of Bengaluru.
The East-West road ran from Halasuru(Ulsoor) Gate to Sondekappa Road, while the North-South road ran from Yelahanka to the Fort. These roads are currently at Nagarapethe, Chikkapethe, Doddapethe.
The streets were demarcated based on professions.
Doddapethe,Chikkapethe, Nagarthapethe- General Markets.
Aralepethe- Cotton
Tharagupethe- Grains
Akkipethe- Rice
Ragipethe
Balepethe- Bangles.
Attara Kacheri is the seat of principal bench of Karnataka HC, located opposite Vidhana Soudha. So called after 18 Departments, which is how the Mysuru administration was structured by the Wadiyars.
When the British took over Mysore, Lord William Bentick, then Governor General, housed around 10 departments in Tipu Sultan's Summer Palace in Bengaluru, while the Mysure Royal family was still in charge of some Departments.
However as the palace did not have sufficient space to accomodate the growing size of the departments, a need for a new building was felt. Also it was too far from the Cantonment.
It was Lewin Bentham Bowring, the new Comissioner who began the construction of the building in 1862. Richard Sankey after whom the tank in Malleswaram is named, was the chief engineer for this project.
The site was choosen by Mark Cubbon, later Comissioner, after whom the Park is named. In fact even Cubbon Park was constructed by Sankey.
