Mussoorie
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
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Mussoorie
{MansTiri). Hill station and sanitarium in Dehra Dun District, United Provinces, situated in 30° 27' N. and 78° 5' E. It stands on a ridge of the Outer Himalayas at a height of 6,000 to 7,500 feet above sea-level, among beautiful and varied mountain scenery, and forms practically one town with Landour, where there is a convalescent depot for troops. The population of the municipality and cantonment in the cold season has varied from 2,753 '" 1872 to 4,852 in 1881, 7,175 in 1891, and 6,461 in 1901. In September, 1900, the population within municipal limits was 14,689, of whom 7,420 were Hindus, 3,424 Musalmans, and 3,660 Christians (mostly Europeans and Eurasians). The cantonment population was 3,711, of whom 1,516 were Christians.
Mussoorie became a sanitarium in 1826, the year before Landour was made a convalescent depot for troops, and has gradually become one of the most popular health resorts in Northern India. Up to 1900 it was reached h\ road from Saharanpur, 58 miles away, but the opening of the Hardwar-Dehra Railway has made it more accessible. Dehra is about 7 miles from Raj pur, at the foot of the hills, from which Mus- soorie is reached by a bridle-path 7 miles long or by a cart-road of
14 miles. During the hot season the members of the District staff reside for part of each month at Mussoorie, and it is the summer head- quarters of field parties of the Trigonometrical Survey of India. The Mussoorie municipality was constituted in 1850. During the ten years ending 1901 the receipts averaged Rs. 71,800, besides loans from Government, amounting to Rs. 1,16,000, for water-works and sewerage. In 1903-4 the receipts were i-6 lakhs, including tax on houses and land (Rs. 32,000), tolls (Rs. 50,000), conservancy tax (Rs. 19,000); and the expenditure was 1-4 lakhs, including conservancy (Rs. 28,000), water-supply (Rs. 13,000), general administration (Rs. 22,000), roads (Rs. 26,000), interest and debt (Rs. 7,000). The Bhilaru sewage shoot for the disposal of refuse is the most important sanitary work, carried out recently at a cost of Rs. 70,000 : schemes for an improved water-supply and electric lighting are under consideration.
Mussoorie exists chiefly as a health resort, and the only manufacture 15 that of beer at two breweries, which employed 131 men in 1903 and made nearly half a million gallons of beer. It is of great importance as an educational centre for European and Eurasian children ; and there arenine.schools for boys and five for girls of these classes, with about 600 boarders and 200 day scholars, besides a school at Landour. A Roman Catholic cathedral is under construction.
Raj-era breweries
The Times of India, Oct 06 2015
Prachi Raturi Misra
The Mussoorie brew which had Ghalib hooked
The hill station housed some popular breweries manned by famous names like Sir Henry Bohle and Sir John Mackinnon who brewed legendary whisky . In fact, a popular story goes that Mirza Ghalib, whenever he had the money , travelled on a pony from Balli Maran in Delhi's Chandni Chowk all the way to the Meerut Cantonment to fetch the full quota of his favorite Mussoorie whisky . “Mussoorie ki hawa hi nahi paani me bhi nasha hai (Not only the air but even the water of Mussoorie is intoxicating),“ he is reported to have quipped.
In fact, recounts local historian Gopal Bharadwaj, the Mussoorie breweries had many other fans too, most notably the British officers who served at the hill station. In a letter dated February 23, 1877, a Lieut Col Campbell of Landour wrote to Mackinnon & Co,“ I have the honour to inform you that the beer supplied by you to the depot under my command has invariably been of most excellent quality.... I hope that you will have no difficulty in obtaining authority to continue supply .“
The brewing tradition in Mussoorie goes back to as early as 1832 when Sir Henry Bohle started `The Old Brewery' on the outskirts of the hill station on the Mussoorie Haathipaon Road.“The British made provisions for two things when they moved. They had to have butchers since they were mostly non vegetarians, and they had to have their liquor, hence the breweries.,“ says Bharadwaj.
In fact, so popular were the products made by these breweries that Sir Bohle, who had the licence to make only beer, started brewing whisky as well since his patrons kept asking for it.
Historical buildings
Post offices
Two Raj-era iconic post offices in Mussoorie, one of them almost as old as the hill town itself.
The sub-post office situated in Landour, one that gave Mussoorie its first address, is believed to have been set up in 1837. According to writer and local historian Ganesh Saili, its establishment was facilitated by Captain Frederick Young, regarded as the founder of Mussoorie.
Author Ruskin Bond, who lives in Landour, said that I have been using this post office since 1964 when I permanently moved to Mussoorie, he reminisces. Recalling his pleasant association with postmen here, Bond said, “I have written about one or two postmen in my stories.”
In fact, Landour post office served as the head post office for over 50 years before the head post office was set up on Mall Road in 1909. As per Saili, the father of renowned hunter and conservationist Jim Corbett, Christopher William Corbett, worked as a postmaster here from 1850 to 1863.
The other sub-post office is situated in the premises of Hotel Savoy in Mussoorie and was established in 1902. The plush hotel with its Edwardian interior — built by Cecil D Lincoln, an Irish barrister from Lucknow — was completed in that year itself. The rent for the sub-post office is Rs 99 since it was fixed before Independence and has not been hiked since. “Its seal says Savoy Hotel,” said Gaurav Joshi, postmaster at Mussoorie’s head post office.
