Black Town Street, Madras 1865

An interior street of Black Town in this photograph by John Nicholas in 1865 AD. The beautiful tiled houses can be seen  with thinnais outside for chit chatting and an era when no electricity was there. The New             Black Town developed after 1760s was originally made up of Muthialpet where the Left hand castes lived ( Traders, Artisans, Oil mongers, Weavers and Leather workers ) and Peddanaickenpet where the Right hand castes lived ( Landowners, Accountants and Dubashes ) . The Telugu speaking Arya Vaishya  generally lived West of Pophams Broadway while Tamil speaking Sengunda Mudaliyars lived East of Pophams Broadway and Moors in the North. The black town was highly congested  over populated  and extended over 850 acres from Old jail road in the North to NSC Bose Road in South and Wall Tax Road in the West to North Beach Road in the  East.  The  business houses of Madras shifted to seashore abetting the Black  Town in first half of 19th century with  Madras terraced single and double storeyed buildings given a grand look to the  skyline  from the ships on Madras Roads  competing with any City of that  era in the  west.
        The Black Town was renamed George Town in the  first  decade of 20th century.