Madras Week

As fortnight-long Madras Week is underway to celebrate the founding day of the city (August 22, 1639), let me enumerate some Madras firsts. These were gathered from an article in The Hindu few years back on eminent historian of Madras, S. Muthiah.

* The oldest Corporation outside Europe is the Madras Corporation.

* The Guindy Engineering College is the oldest engineering institution outside Europe.

* The first modern library was started in Fort St. George. (now known as the Connemera Library)

* The St. George School and Orphanage was the first Western education institution in the country.

* The oldest regiment in the Indian Army is the Madras Regiment.

* The Justice Party, the first non-Congress party to rule, has its origins in Madras.

* The Ophthalmic Institute is the oldest in Asia (founded in 1819).

* The first hospital was established in Fort St. George in 1664, the first in India.