Post Plassey, Kolkata was slowly gaining the true character of a European Urban Settlement. For ease of governance, the city was divided into smaller administrative zones called “Thanas” or Police Stations. Each thana had an area under its jurisdiction, for which, apart from maintaining the law and order, it looked after the civic amenities and hence the thana-areas were also called municipal wards. The Police Commissioner doubled as the Municipal Chairman, till 1888.
The earliest list of thanas, containing 31 such names, was, for the first time, made available in 1785. The list is as shown below:
Armenian Church
Old Fort
Chandpal Ghat
South of the Great Tank (the Laldighi)
Dharmutollah (the Esplanade)
Old Court House
Domtala
Amragali and Panchanantala
China Bazar
Trul Bazar
Jhamapukur
Chandni Chowk
Charakdanga
Shimla Bazar
Lullunch Bazar (Raja Ramlochan’s Bazar)
Malanga and Pataldanga
Kabardanga
Baithakkhana
Shyampukur
Shyambazar
Padmapukur
Kumartulli
Jorashanko
Mechhuabazar
Janbazar
Dingabhanga
Sutanuti Haatkhola
Doyehaata
Hanspukur
Colimba (Kalinga)
Jorabagan
But in 1888, the number of Police Stations was reduced to 25. The jurisdiction of these Police Stations formed the basis for the creation of the municipal wards under the Calcutta Municipal Act of 1899. This marked the final picture of the Urban Settlement in Old Kolkata. The list of Police Stations is as follows:
Shyampukur: The area was mostly inhabited by the Bengal Aristocracy. The jurisdiction of the police station included the nearby areas of Shyampukur and Shyam Bazar. Historians differ in opinion over the history of the name of the area. According to some Shyamcharan Basak, the founder of the Basak Family, used to reside in the area. He had in his possession, a big tank (Pukur) and this lent the area its name. A second opinion points out that the Shobharam Basak of the famous Basak family, who owned both Shyam Bazar and Shyam Pukur areas named the areas after his family deity of Lord Shyamrai (Lord Vishnu). Famous archeologist Sri Gourdas Basak has testified this view. But the essayist, Sri Prankrishna Dutta had something different to say. He opined that a Brahmin by the name of Shyamcharan Mukherjee created a big tank in this region out his own purse. This lent the area its name. A map of the area was drawn by Mr. Shak (1825-32) showed a big tank in the area contrary to an earlier notification of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation stating that the area was created by filling up the tank owned by one Sri Shyam Mullick. The debate over the reason why Shyampukur and Shyambazar was so named, reached a different height when Sri Sharat Chandra Mitra pointed out in an essay that the area got its name from the shrine of Godess Shyama (Godess Kali), which used to be in the area to shifted to the southern part of the city, later. He wrote that “Shyambazar and Shyampooker are named after the temple of Godess Shyama (kali) which existed here formerly. Shyambazar existed there in the last (18th ) century, for it was framed by the British in 1749.”
Shyambazar, in 1743, was designated “Cow Cross”. The bazar or the mart was named as “Charles Bazaar” by Holwell. The Bazar was owned by Shobharam Basak.
Baagbazar, according to some historians, was a corruption of the word “bank-bazaar” meaning the market (bazaar) on the banks of the river. But it is commonly related to “baag”, meaning garden. This theory is substantiated by the presence of a garden, in the area, owned by Captain Charles Perrin while the bazaar (market) was set up nearby at the premises of Purnachandra Dey. Perrin sold the garden to the East India Company in 1752, who, in the same year, sold it to Holwell, the Zamindar (Magistrate-Collector) of Kolkata, for a sum of Rs. 2500.
Bosepara, a nearby locality, within the jurisdiction of the Shyampukur Police Station, was set up by the Bose and the Pal Families, who migrated to this place from Hooghly District. Nidhuram Basu arrived here even before the British had arrived here.
2. Kumartuli: The area acquired such a name because it was the quarters of the “kumars/kumors” (potters). The area still retains its name and character and is famous for the earthen idols of Hindu deities, being prepared here. Rich and famous Bengalis like Nandaram Sen, Gobindaram Basu, both of whom were Black Zamindars i.e. deouty collectors of tax of Kolkata for the East India Company and whose riches reached proverbial heights used to reside in the area. Apart from them another rich Bengali Gentleman named Banamali Sarkar constructed his famous residential house in this place. In the recent times, famous cricketer, Sri Pankaj Roy was one of the residents of the area.
3. Bartala: The area to the north of Bedon Square (current Rabindra Kanan/Hedua Park) was known as Bartala, a corruption of the word Battala, owing to the presence of two Banyan Trees, that stood there till 1897. The trees grew on the land owned by the Royal Family of Shobhabazar who ordered strict punitive actions in case of any hard done to any of these trees. The order read that a man would have one of his fingers chopped off if he tears a leaf. He would lose one of his hands if he breaks a branch and would have his head chopped off if he laid an axe on the tree. The area later became famous for the printing and publishing industry that flourished in the area.
The areas within the jurisdiction of the Police Station included Shobhabzar and Goranhatta. There are more than one opinions regarding the origin of the name “Shobhabazar”. Beverly himself had put forward two opinions. The first one pointed out the fact that the bazar(market) that was owned by one Sri Shobharam Ghosh. This fact has been noted in the legal document of distribution of the property, dated 1802, amongst the successors of the Shobhabazar Royal Family. In the second one Beverly pointed out that Shobharam Basak of the celebrated Basak Family founded a market (bazar) in the area which lent the area its name. A third opinion, of course from a different quarter, noted that a bazar(market) was founded in the area by one Shobha Singh which was the reason for the area being named such.
Garanhatta got its name from the mart dealing with the sale of the trunks of the Goran Trees.
Other areas within the jurisdiction of the Bartola Police station were Haatibagan, Nandanbagan, Halshibagan and Rajabagan. These were abandoned land of swamps, marshes and shrubs fringing the northern boundary of the city. Haatibagan used to be where the elephants were stabled when they entered the city. Nandanbagan area was named after the house of Gobindaram Mitra of the same name. Halshibagan was named after one Mr Halsey. Umichand, a wealthy Sikh, had his garden house in the area. It was in this house that Nawab Siraj-Ud-Daulla had camped during his attack on Kolkata in 1756 and 1757. Rajabagan area was named after Raja Nabakrishna Deb of the Shobhabazar Royal Family. The Bartala Ward or the Thana Area has been divided into two equal halves by the Cornwallis Street (now Bidhan Sarani). 2/3rd of the population of the area now resides on the western side of the road.
4. Sukeas Street: The area was named after the benevolent Armenian Merchant Peter Sukeas, who used to reside in the area in a palatial building. His dug a huge tank in the area to cater to the needs of water by the local residents of the area. And this he did out of his own purse. The area was the home of two famous social reformers – Raja Rammohan roy and Ishwar Chandra Bidyasagar, the latter residing in the premises number 12 on the road. This house was the seat of the first widow remarriage of India on 7th December, 1856. Famous Writer, Dinabandhu Mitra of the “Nildarpan” ( a fiction on the plight of the indigo farmers) fame was another noted resident here.
5. Jorabagan: Jora – pair, bagan – Garden: The pair of garden houses, marked near the Bedon Square (Rabindra Kanan/Hedua Park) on the Forresti and Olifre’s map of 1742,was the reason the area being so named. The other name of the area was Seth Bagan because the Seth family owned a 110 Bigha garden in this area. It was here that Captain Commandant William Holcomb proposed to build one of the batteries to defend Kolkata from a possible Marhatta (Bargi) attack. Jorabagan was only second to Kumartuli in the concentration of Hindus (93.5%). Affluent Bengali families like the Tagores (Thakurs) of Pathuriaghata, The Singhabahini Mullicks, the descendents of Ramlochan Ghosh, Diwan Baidyanath Mukherjee, Diwan Radhamadhab Banerjee and Raja Sukhomoy Roy of Posta were some of the famous residents of under the Jorabagan Police.
6. Jorashanko – (Jora – Pair, Shanko – Bridge): The area is so called because of the pair of wooden or bamboo bridges that spanned a small stream at this point. Some have related the pair of Shiva Temples of the area to the naming issue. The area is the home of the Tagore family(most famous member being Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagore), the Sinhas (including the famous writer Kaliprasanna Sinha), the Pals(including Krishnadas Pal), the family of Diwan Baranasi Ghosh and Chandramohan Chatterjee. The area thus became the cradle of Bengali Renaissance, as attested by the institutions like Aadi Brahmo Samaj, the Jorashanko Bharati Natya Samaj, the Kolkata Haribhakti Pradayini Sabha, the Minerva Library and the Oriental Seminary.
7. Bara Bazar: Bara Bazar was initially named after Lord Shiva, often fondly referred to as “Buro” meaning old. The upcountry merchants who ousted the Seths from the area changed the name to Bara Bazar (bara—big, bazar – market). This grew out of the old Sutanuti Haat (Haat – market). The existence of Bara Bazar has been traced back to 1738 by Orme. In the siege of 1756, the Nawab’s troops set fire to the market and took possession of the quarters of the principal merchants.
8. Kalutola – (Kalu – Oil Pressers, tola – quarters):It was in 1752, under the orders of the East India Company, that Holwell, the Collector-Magistrate of Kolkata settled the company’s workmen of diverse trades in separate quarters. Kalutola was the home of the “kalus” or the oil pressers who used to supply oil the company as well as to the merchants of Bara Bazar. The area harks back to the beginning of the 18th century. The area was the home of two very famous Bengali families – the Sens and the Duttas. The best known of the former was the famous social reformer and champion of the Brahmo Samaj Sri Keshab Chandra Sen. Tarachand Dutta and Harihar Dutta were pioneer Urdu Journalists of India. Another Scion of the Dutta Family was Sagar Dutta, whose benevolence was well known. The famous writer Rishi Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was also a resident of the area, as was Hujoorimull, the Sikh Businessman whose wealth reached proverbial heights.
9. Muchipara: The area was the home of the muchis (cobblers/leather-workers). This thana or municipal ward has no mention in the list of 1785.
10. Bou Bazar: Bou Bazar is commonly explained as the “Bahu Bazar” meaning the Bride’s Market as Biswanath Matilal is said to have given the market at the premises number 84A, near the crossing with the Nirmal Chandra Street, to his daughter-in-Law. However the bazar and the street name has been traced back to 1749, long before Biswanath Matilal’s birth. It was marked as “An Avenue Leading to the Eastward” in a map of 1742. The most popular theories in support of the name of the area are:
a. There were many (bahu) markets along the road
b. The baithakkhana market (premises no 155—158) on this road sold many (bahu) items
The road was rechristened as Bipin Bihari Ganguly Street (previously Bou Bazar Street) in 1947, though the area still retains the earlier name.
11. Padmapukur: Adjacent to the Bou Bazar, was the Padmapukur Thana. As the name suggests that are area was named after a tank where lotus used to grow. But it has not been possible to locate where the actual tank existed. The Byaparitola tank, which later became the Wellington Square (current Subodh Mullick Square), in the Dingabhanga(Creek Row) area, was within the jurisdiction of the thana. The area was has been marked as Shakaritola(the quarters of the conch-workers) in the map drawn by Mark Woods in 1784.
12. Waterloo Street: The Waterloo Street Police Section, though small, was divided into three thanas in 1785 named the Old Fort thana, the “South of the Great Tank” thana and the Old Court House thana. The Waterloo Street itself was constructed in 1828 by the lottery committee. But the settlement in the area dated back to the early days of Kolkata.
13. Fenwick’s Bazar: Fenwick’s Bazar stood to the east of the current New Market. Edward Fenwick (1764-1812) held important offices under the company, although the Company dismissed him more than once. His father, Captain Thomas Fenwick served the Company for more than 34 years without home-leave. He therefore received land at John Nagar (current Jaan Bazar). On this land the son built a market called Fenwick’s Bazar.
14. Taltala: The area was named after the “Tal” or the Palmyra trees of the region. It is predominantly a muslim area housing the Calcutta Madrassah. The earliest of Hindu settlers of the area was Sri Durgacharan Banerjee, father of the famous freedom fighter Sir Surendra Nath Banerjee.
15. Kalinga: Kalinga is a corruption of the word Colimba meaning mask melon. The area was originally known as Colimba and was one of the 38 villages mentioned in the Firman of 1717. The area has a road named Collin Street. Collin is a third level corruption of the word colimba (colimba – kalinga – Collin). The famous inhabitants of the area were Justice Stephen Caessar Le Maistre and James Augustus Hicky, the journalist of Hicky’s Gazette.
16. Park Street: Park Street was initially known as “Badamtala”. Upon the construction of the Christian Burial Ground near the southern end of the road, the road came to known as “Burial Ground road”. The area was renamed “Park Street” to commemorate the deer park situated on this road, belonging to Sir Elijah Impey(1732 – 1809), the chief Justice of Supreme Court in the 1780s.The house was built by William Frankland, the Zamindar of Kolkata. The company wanted to buy it for its governors but the directors demurred and the house became the private property of Henry Bansittart, the Governor from 1760 – 1764. Still later, the house became the property of Sir Impey. It stood at the present site of the Loreto House on the Middleton Row (formerly Vansittart Street). After the creation of the Marhatta Ditch, Park Street was developed as an European residential Area.
17. Baamun Basti: The present day Kolkata does not have any of its localities named as Baamun Basti. The Thana was adjacent to the Park Street Thana and used to be a basti, a cluster of hutments around a large tank and occupied by the servant of the Europeans of the Park Street. But this Thana does not find a mention in either Wood’s map or Upjohn’s Map. But the area enjoys a different character today because the owner Peterson, a barrister by profession, conveyed the tank to the municipal authorities in perpetuity. In return the municipality was to develop the tank, build roads and supply water. And thus were born the Russel Street, Middleton Street etc. This enabled Peterson not only to oust the slum dwellers but also to sell the rest of the property as a superior building site to the Europeans. The scheme cost the civic body a sum of Rs. 20000. The return in municipal rates, probably, made the investment worthwhile.
18. Hastings: The Hastings thana area used to be the site for a muslim burial ground, predating the construction of the new Fort William. When the new Fort began in 1757, the workmen (coolies) were camped in the area and the area was named as “Coolie-Bazar”. It was named after Warren Hastings as it grew up as a township for the Ordnance and Commissariat Departments and the Harbour Master’s Department of the Kolkata Port Trust.
19. Entali:Entali was a part of the Salt Lakes, before it was reclaimed. The area was initially known as Hintali, from the Hintal trees that grew in abundance in this salty region. This marshy pestilential land was the home of the Oriya Palanquin Bearers and other non-hindu communities. The caste Hindus shunned the area because of the presence of the municipal slaughter house and the Chinese owned piggeries and tanneries. This low cost land, in the 19th century, attracted investments and many factories came up in the area. Some of these factories are still there.
20. Beniapukur: Beniapukur area has been mentioned by Holwell in the mid-eighteenth century, buth the thana dates back to the early 19th century. Influential “Bania” or merchants, more specifically the “Gandhabaniks” (merchants dealing with perfumes and spices) dug a huge tank or Pukur in the area. Thus the area got its name. The thana by the same name still exists today.
21. Baliganj and Tollyganj: Baliganj and Tollyganj formed a combined thana. A “ganj” is a market and “Bali” means sand. The Baliganj area probably grew up around a mart dealing with sands in such plentiful supply from the river islands (“char”) of Bengal. Baliganj was the seat of the Garden Houses of the 18th century Europeans like George Mandeville, the Magistrate-Collector (Zamindar) of Kolkata and Gilbert Ironside, the friend of Warren Hastings. Emily Eden called Baliganj “Our Eltham or Lewisham” in 1840. H.E.A. Cotton noted in one of his writings in 1907 that “the fine Maidan and quarters of the Governor General’s Bodyguards (the M.E.S. Ballygunge Maidan Camp of the Indian Army) surrounded by many fime European residences standing on expensive grounds.” After the suburban railway opened up the area, Baliganj became the citadel of the educated Bengali middle class. Two roads viz. the Mandeville Gardens and the Ironside Road commemorate the celebrated European residents of the area.
Tollyganj was initially known as ‘Russapaglah” in the 18th century. It used to a jungle sprinkled with European residences. Major Tolly of the Belvedere Estate was entrusted with the task of dredging the Aadi Ganga and create a waterway connecting the Aadi Ganga and the Bidyadhari river to facilitate trading of Jute, Bamboo and Rice, with Dhaka in the eastern part of Bengal (now Bangladesh) via the Sunderbans. He was allowed to set up a “ganj” or market and collect toll to compensate for the expenses towards the said job. This market which came up on the northern side of the now Tollygunge Circular Road on the eastern bank of the Aadi Ganga, which came to be known as Tolly’s Nullah, len the name Tollyganj to the area. Noted residents of the area included Alexander Dow, Major Andrew William, Tillman Henkell etc. The Mysore princes, settled here after the Vellore mutiny of 1806 and small muslim community grew up in the area. A mosque was set up in the area and was named as Tipu Sultan Mosque.
22. Bhabanipur: Bhabanipur existed as a dihi in 1765.Part of Dihi Chakraberia was subsumed within it. Here is said to have stood the original shrine of Godess Kali (Bhabani), about a mile from the present site at Kalighat to which the shrine was shifted in 1809. The Aadi Ganga flowed by the side of the temple. The construction of the Harish Mukherjee Road and the Lansdowne Road and the extension of the Hazra Road opened up Bhabanipur at the beginning of the century. Bhabanipur developed on a rigid caste and occupational line. The kansharies (braziers), the shakharies (conch-workers), the telis (oil-pressers) all had their separate quarters (paras) while commodities were sold in patties (marts) like the chaul-patti (rice mart), identifiable even today. At the same time Indian Lawyers, including the most illustrious of old Kolkata, like Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, flocked to live in the area. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose had his ancestral home here in Bhabanipur. The Sadar Diwani Adalat, the company’s highest appealet court was shifted to the Old Military Hospital compound in the area.
23. Alipore: Alipore is possibly a derivative of Alinagar, the name give to Kolkata after the siege of 1756, by Nawab Siraj-Ud-Daullah. Some have related the name to Ali Naqi Khan. Ali Naqi Khan not only owned a house in the area, he also had a bathing platform, on the Aadi Ganga, named after him. Initially it was predominantly a muslim habitat. Later it was taken over by the British Elite. The muslim population living in the Zeerut slum areas were evicted to make room for the construction of the Zoo. Noted European, Warren Hastings built a house in Alipore. Phillip Francis, built a house in this area and named it as the “Lodge”. The Belvedere House, with its lush lawns and well laid out garden, at Alipore is a marvelous piece of masonry work. It now houses the National Library (formerly the Imperial Library). Richard Barwell’s house at Alipore later became the Orphan Asylum and still later the St. Thomas School. Alipore went on to become the headquarters of the South 24 Parganas District and consists of all administrative and juridical installations like the District Civil and Sessions court, the Police Court, the District Magistrate’s residence, the residence of the Superintendent of Police, Jail (now called Alipore Correctional Home), the Bengal Government Press etc. The area is also noted for the military installations, the Bodyguard Lines(now the Headquarters of the Kolkata Armed Police) which was the quarters of the bodyguards of the Lt. Governor of Bengal residing at the Belvedere House, the Meteorological Department, the Bhabani Bhaban (Headquarters of the CID) and as mentioned earlier the Zoo.
24. Ekbalpur: Adjacent to Alipore, it is not known for certain why, Ekbalpore was named such and How it grew. But the name hints that the area developed as a muslim habitat. The concentration of the muslim population at Ekbalpore was due to many reasons like the eviction of the muslim population from the Zeerut area for the creation of the zoo, the eviction of the muslim population from Garden Reach for the construction of the Docks (N.S. Docks). The advent of the Momins or the Muslim Weavers from the Bihar and Uttar Pradesh after the mutiny of 1857 and their settling down at the nearby area that they named as Mominpur, also added to the tally of Muslim population at Ekbalpore. One of the oldest muslim burial grounds, named “Sholo Aana” is situated on the Ekbalpur Road.
25. Watganj: Watganj is too closely connected with the Kidderpore Dock. The area was named after Colonel William Watson(1737-1784), the virtual founder of the Kidderpore Docks. After working for the army and the company and becoming the Chief Engineer of Bengal for the latter, Watson set up the first dockyard of Bengal at Kidderpore. Here were built the frigates “Nonesuch” (32-guns) in 1782 and “Surprise”(36-guns) in 1788. Watson also acted as the second to Phillip Francis, in his historic duel with Warren Hastings at the Belvedere.