Murphy Town, Bangalore


Murphy Town is a suburb located near Bangalore Cantonment, India. It is one of the oldest planned suburbs of the Cantonment, and was earlier known as Knoxpet, and was later changed to Murphy Town. It is located North of Ulsoor, with Murphy Road running along its periphery, and is also bounded by Old Madras Road and Kensington Road, with part of Kensington Road overlooking Ulsoor Lake Madras Sappers.

Knoxpet

In the early 1900s the suburb was known as Knoxpet, named after Lt. Col. Stuart George Knox, who served as Resident of Mysore and Coorg between 1 November 1921 to 31 October 1922, and earlier as Resident of Baroda State. The suburb was settled since 1865 by Tamil workers such as tannery workers, leather workers, pottery workers, etc. The houses at Knoxpet had poor sanitation facilities and generally poorly built, and resembled a slum. The Bangalore Plague of 1898, resulted in the government deciding to demolish, rebuild and re-settle the suburb. However actual process was started only in 1923. In 1937, the suburb was renamed as Murphy Town, after W H Murphy, MBE - Executive Engineer, Municipal Council, Bangalore Civil and Military Station.

W H Murphy

W H Murphy, served as the Executive Engineer, Municipal Council, Bangalore Civil and Military Station for nearly 25 years. Murphy is credited with designing the sanitation works at Austin Town, and the underground drainage works at . He is responsible for designing and execution of some of Bangalore Cantonment's prominent buildings, such as Russell Market, which is named after T B Russell who served as Municipal Commissioner, Bangalore. He also designed and built the Friend In Need Society and Colonel Hill High School, with buildings known as Cobb Home for the Aged and Girdlestone Nursing Home, inaugurated W P Barton. Murphy was also credited with inventing the Dog Electrocute, which was used to kill stray dogs painlessly, and extensively used in the Bangalore Cantonment since November 1925. Murphy was also one of the founding members of the Rotary Club of Bangalore.

Town plan

Cantonment records indicate that 310 single homes and 108 double homes were built, with cement, bricks and Mangalore tiles. There were large open quadrangles, and the houses were around its periphery, and these open spaces provided space for community and social functions. Space was also provided for Temples, Churches and a Market The housing scheme at Murphy Town was based on three defining principles. Firstly, the houses should be 'too good for the classes that occupy them' - the intention was to people to grain self-respect. Secondly, 'the dull uniformity of barracks' must not be implemented - as it proved to be a hindrance to social elevation. Finally, the houses were built with scope for further expansion if economic conditions improved.
The Houses had postal addresses named as "SQUARE" based on 9 numbers of the Squares consisting of Houses making it a Proper square, with Each of the "SQUARE" having an Playground for recreational use of the Residents.

Residents of Murphy Town

Like in other suburbs of the Bangalore Cantonment, Murphy Town has a large Tamil population with Kannada & Telugu speaking Residents too. They trace their ancestry to the large number of Tamil soldiers, suppliers and workers who were brought into the Bangalore Civil and Military Station, by the British Army, after the fall of Tippu Sultan.It is said that half of the Tamil soldier ancestors of the Murphy town residents were from The Madras Sappers. Murphy Town along with other suburbs of the Bangalore Cantonment was directly under the administration of the British Madras Presidency till 1949, when it was handed over to the Mysore State.
Like other poverty stricken areas of the world, Murphy Town, along with Austin Town has produced many good football players, with the sport being very popular in the suburb.this town has produced national & international Hockey players, coaches.
Even today Free Football & Hockey coaching is conducted for kids.
Primrose Hockey Club One of the Oldest Private Hockey clubs in Karnataka was started here in 1959. There are some 37 houses in Murphy Town where the residents pay a nominal rent to BBMP, with the rates staying low as fixed by the British Authorities of the erstwhile Bangalore Cantonment. After independence, the residents met Murphy to get ownership papers, however these 37 houses were left without proper land papers. According to residents, they are still looked down as immigrants by government departments, even though they have been living in Bangalore than most other people in the city. The Street names in Murphy Town are named after Mudaliars, who were prominent businessmen in the community.
The Town Government School had produced several IAS officers,Doctors,Engineers, scientists, politicians, teachers.
Ex Municipal councillor shri. Bhaskaran was elected several times as councillor and was honorary Deputy Mayor of bangalore.
Under his guidance hundreds of old Murphy Town residents got B.D.A sites in Indira Nagar and Neighborood areas, many moved away to these new development areas,
The local school bearing the plaque ‘1913 Elementary School’, used to a Tamil Medium School, which has now been converted to Kannada Medium. The school has an old dilapidated building called the 'Evelyn Barton Welfare Centre’, which has since been closed as its too dangerous. According to the Principal of the School, local residents prefer to give their children English Medium Education from the numerous other schools nearby.
The Murphy Town Market is known for its Meat shops selling Chicken, Mutton, Beef and Fish. One of the shops in the Murphy Town Market, VM Stores is 100 years old, and is one of the oldest stores in the Market. Most of the shops 8x10 ft2, and the rent is minimal at INR 110. However, if a shop ownership is transferred, then the rent gets increased to INR 1000.

Present state

In November 2014, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike's decided to raze 18 old markets. This move has been opposed by heritage lovers, INTACH Bangalore and other groups. A campaign was being led by Kiran Natarajan, Bangalore's well known architect to stop the demolition of heritage markets.
In 1998, the BBMP renamed Murphy Town as Hoysala Nagar, after an ancient Kingdom which ruled the Deccan. However, the name has not caught on and continues to be popularly known as Murphy Town.

Landmarks of Murphy Town