OUR HISTORY

The pioneers of the St. Joseph's Indian Institutions in Bangalore were men of great vision and calibre. Their dreams too began to take shape on the summit of a hill - St. John's Hill where the St. Francis Xavier's Cathedral now stands. In 1841, Bishop Bonnaud had the dream of starting an educational institution on that hill. The whole area was a little wood replete with trees. It was called a 'Garden'. A plot of land was purchased for Rs. 1000/- and in 1854, Fr. Bouteloup had a house constructed at a cost Rs. 3000/- and the house was named St. Joseph's Seminary. It had an orphanage and a residential school. People laughed at the idea because the place was uninhabited and a school in a little wood far from human settlements would serve no purpose. Time proved the French priests of the Paris Mission (MEP) right.

Bangalore then came under the Madras Presidency. The Madras University was established in 1858. Fr. Charbonnaux who was in-charge of the school made this entry in his diary; "We decided to open a school for European boys. As knowledge of English is necessary to our Indian pupils and that of Canarese to the European boy we determined to build a wing and a kitchen adjoining the Seminary." This was the beginning of St. Joseph's College. The year 1865 saw the rise of a new house to accommodate the orphans and boarders of the school. Placing all the three departments - the seminary, the orphanage and the school to function in the same building. So in 1875 the orphanage was transferred to St. Patrick's Church where it still exists on the Church premises as St. Patrick's Orphanage. With the Seminary being closed down, only the school remained on the campus. The school had a total of 144 students, 64 boarders and 80 day scholars.