The pride of Bangalore

The pride of Bangalore
The Hindu

Set up in 1882, this was the first private college in city



Bangalore: For 120 years it stayed a city landmark on Residency Road, an imposing stone building. Since 2002, St. Joseph's College has been functioning near Lalbagh Road with more modern buildings to house its vastly expanded number of students.

Set up in 1882 to house a small Catholic community of about 1,000 Europeans and 5000 Indians as the very first private college in Bangalore, St. Joseph's has lived up to its motto "Faith and Toil."

Vital contribution

While its students have distinguished themselves in different fields, the major contribution of the college has been to institutes of science and the armed forces.

Founded by the fathers of the Mission Society of Paris and fostered by them for 55 years, it has been managed by Jesuits since 1937.

In that year, there was an agreement between the Bishop of Mysore and representatives of the Society of Jesus in India that led to the latter taking charge of the college. At the transition, the college campus had one imposing main building built in 1925 and it could accommodate the limited number of 350 students on the rolls. Soon expansion was needed as more students were admitted.

One unusual feature of the old building was the astronomical laboratory built atop the main building in 1938. It was a difficult enterprise taken up by Rev. Fr. Airoldi and built by T.S. Narayan Rao. The college became the first in South India to have its own astronomical observatory with a five-inch refractory telescope.

The present college buildings have a history behind them too. In the post World War period, the need for hostel facility was felt because the college was attracting students from regions far from Bangalore.

The old hostel building, where the Catholic Club today stands on Museum Road, could provide room for only 35 students. The then principal Rev. Fr. B. D'Souza, with a grant of Rs. 50,000 from the government and donations from parents and old students, constructed the new hostel on a corner of the playgrounds near Lalbagh Road. The semi-circular buildings were completed in 1948 with 120 rooms, four halls and a chapel.

The 1950s and 1960s saw the college expanding its sciences faculty and related laboratories. The reorganisation of the entire campus took place then too with the junior college occupying the building on Museum Road and other classes on another campus. In 1971, the commerce wing was made into a separate college, now situated on Brigade Road. The Evening College began functioning in 1970 too.

The University Grants Commission has declared St. Joseph's one of the three with potential for excellence and provided a Rs. 1-crore grant. The college itself became autonomous in 2005. Its academic strength can be gauged from the fact more than 70 per cent of the faculty possess doctoral degrees.