The very old American bond with Chennai | Madras Day

So long before the United States (USA), our city had made its connections. Elihu Yale was ultimately born in America, and then, the governor, who financed Yale University, was purchased from the maliciously reserve. During his term of office, Madras Corporation was in 1688 and his first Mayor and later as the governor of Yale, his successor was another American – Nathaniel Higginson.

Another mayor was again, this time, US citizen William Abbott. In November 1794, he was appointed to the consulate agent for Madras and was less appointed by George Washington by Benjamin Joy, India’s first American consul. Joy was a shaky basis in Calcutta, and that’s why we don’t know how Abbott was bought here, but he stuck around and became the mayor! The consular agents in Madras have been appointed regularly from 1867 onwards, and they have written detailed accounts of the city and presidency business opportunities.

By 1908, the consul agent’s task in Madras was promoted to his consul. Between 1911 and 1914, such an official Jose de Oliveres, who opened the way for American cars to find a ready market in our city. As we all know, he was a successful General Motors Service Workshop and then a car seller and the TVS group had beginnings in Madurai. Many American goods and services have become popular here for decades, while cinema was perhaps the most permanent. Hollywood also provided ‘inspiration’ for many stories for cinema, and music and dance series often removed the frame for the frame without copyright thoughts. And in the 1940s there were an American directing Tamil movies – Ellis R. Dungan!

Second World War Impact

It was World War II that brought Madras to the center stage. It was one of the few ports that were not bombed by the Japanese on the eastern front. And so, British and American troops poured the city forever. Among them, two people – Frank Bond and Glenn S. Hensley – wandered in the city in their spare time and took photos of daily life. Today, these photographs are Madras’s valuable records and are part of the collection of Chicago University. Years later, the same university would offer us our best printed material library in Tamil. ‘Roja’ Muthiah Chettiar collection from Kottiiyur was rescued and today the Roja Mouth research library in Taramani.

Thanks to the University of Chicago, the ‘Roja’ Muthiah Chettiar collection from Kottiiyur was rescued and today the Roja Muthiah Research Library in Taramani. | Photo Loan: Hindu Archives

The position of independence and the consul’s position redesigned the Consul General. The Consulate was a tenant of Parry & Co. from the beginning and stayed there until the 1950s, moved to the Bank Building in Mount Road and then to its existing buildings on the Cathedral Road in 1969.

Surprisingly, the United States did not think that India would do it as an independent nation and more especially an industrial power center. And so, Ford, who has long been a parliamentary workshop in Madras, wounded his operations. Later, Ford returned only in the 1990s and pointed out the beginning of Chennai’s becoming an automotive power center. Since then, American companies here are a dozen.

However, the Indians were influenced by the United States that both Dewan Bahadur Amm Murugappa Chettiar and TV Sundram Iyengar traveled and saw before 1947. The beginning of the interests of the Murugappa group in production was with the participation of American. In 1938, Ajax furniture company was established and in 1954, Carborundum Co. (USA), Universal Grinding Wheel Co. It was Cumi, a cooperation between the UK and Murugappas. Chesern Ponds, which have long been defined with a permanent odor in the Pallavaram-chromepet area. The company came to Madras in the 1950s, but disappeared after merging with the Hindustan arm in the 1980s.

Today, one of the most visible reminders of the United States is the snake queue of visa applicants near the Consulate building. Ice House was not remembered because of the US retail baron and Postal Manager John Wannamaker, who once donated to the reason of this construction, where the American Ice was stored and the YMCA building on the Esplanade. He pioneered numerous sports in the city, especially in basketball, and Harry Crowe Buck, an American who created Ymca Nandanam, who became a college for physical education.