Chetpet (Chennai)

The name Chetpet (historically Chetput) has been variously explained. One historical derivation traces it to the Tamil Chetru Pattu, meaning a marshy place; an inscription of the Rashtrakuta period also refers to a settlement called Settruppedu, identified by historian K. V. Raman with modern Chetpet. A later popular explanation derives the name from Chetty Pettai, referring to the Chettiar community, although this interpretation has been questioned because the older place-name predates the nineteenth-century Chettiar presence in the locality.

Along with Egmore and Nungambakkam, Chetpet is considered one of the original villages merged by the British to form Chennai.

McNichols Road existed in 1798 as an avenued highway for the greater part of its course from Spur Tank Road towards Poonamallee High Road. It derives its name from Robert McNichol who was Assistant Master Attendant between 1811 and 1822.

Spur Tank

The Spur Tank was a tank which was present in the southern skirt of EVR Periyar Road (Poonamalee High Road) in the Chetpet area. The tank was slowly encroached upon by 1939 and eventually was completely silted up. The name likely comes due to its "spur-like" shape.

The nearby Spur Tank Road (or Mayor Ramanathan Salai) was named after the tank. The first mention of the Spur Tank was in 1718 by Henry Davidson Love in his Vestiges Of Old Madras. The oldest available map on the internet (1854) indicates the Spur Tank more as a rectangular water body.

The Asiatic Annual Register, Vol. X, published in 1811, refers to the arrival and settling in of Thomas Andrew Strange, who was to become the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. This note mentions that Strange met several officials belonging to the Madras administration at the Chief Justice’s garden on the Spur Tank, at 9 o’clock on July 12, 1808.

Although some lamented on the shrinking of the Spur Tank in 1939, Some refer to deliberate filling of tanks, including the Spur Tank because of the high amount of mosquitos present there.

Today, there is little to no evidence of the existence of a tank as most of it has been silted up and replaced with subways and playgrounds.

Development

Until recently, the waters of Chetpet lake supplied groundwater recharge for the surrounding neighbourhoods.

Location, Chetpet

Chetpet is located at the center of Chennai, with a suburban station of its own, not far from Chennai Egmore Railway Station. CMBT is 8 km from Chetpet.

Chetpet Eco Park is a famous landmark in this locality. The Karukatthaman Koil is one of the temples in the locality inaugurated on July 12, 1924.

Harrington Road was named after William Harrington, a civil servant of the Madras Presidency. Harrington joined the Madras Civil Service in 1774 and in 1796 received a grant of ten acres on the southern side of the Spur Tank. He was recorded as unemployed in 1799 and subsequently became a partner in the firm of Harrington, Burnaby and Cockburn. In 1813 he was restored to the civil service, and his son, William Harrington Jr., entered the East India Company's service as a writer two years later. Harrington Sr. died in Madras, while the road adjoining his former property retained his name.

The road and its adjoining lanes subsequently developed around several educational, religious and residential institutions. Among those associated with the neighbourhood were Sir Venkata Subba Rao and Lady Andal, the Mammen Mappillai family of MRF, lawyer Govind Swaminadhan and his family, builder Tarapore, former mayor M. Rm. Ramanathan Chettiar, and educator Jacob Kuruvilla. The locality also included the Madras Christian College Higher Secondary School, St Thomas Church and Hindu samadhis.

Spur Tank Road derived its name from the former Spur Tank, a large water body situated between Chetput and Egmore, immediately south of Poonamallee High Road. By 1939 the tank was already being progressively filled and covered with playgrounds, although its name survived in the adjoining road.

1. Dr. Guruswamy Bridge - It connects Chetpet to Kilpauk and the EVR Periyar Road to the north.
2. SDAT Ground - The main ground for the Sports Development Authority Of Tamil Nadu
3. Chetpet Bridge - Bridge connecting Chetpet to Nungambakkam to the south.
4. Sankaralayam - A wedding hall inaugurated on 29 March 1995.
5. Chetpet Lake & Eco Park - Chetpet Lake, the only remaining water body of the Spur Tank that dominated the area till the 1970's, was in a bad state until it was saved by the government in May 2012. Along with this, an Ecological Park was created on its shores attracting many tourists to the neighbourhood.
6. The Malayalee Club - A club for Malayalis established here in 1897.
7. Madras Christian College - A Famous college in Harrington Road.
8. Dr. Mehta’s Hospital - Hospital which was relocated to Chetpet in 1955.

Educational institutions

• Auxilium Girls Higher Secondary School
• Lady Andal Venkata Subba Rao Matriculation School
• Madras Christian College Higher Secondary School
• Madras Christian College Matriculation Higher Secondary School
• Maharishi Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School
• Sherwood Hall Senior Secondary School
• The Madras Seva Sadan Higher Secondary School
• Union Christian Matriculation Higher Secondary School
• Chinmaya Vidyalaya Harrington Road