The May Day Park, originally known as Napier Park, is a

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

in the city of

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is located on Deputy Mayor Kabalamoorthy Road in

Chintadripet Chintadripet (originally Chinna Thari Pettai) is a locality in Chennai, in India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by ...

History

On 28 January 1869, a resolution was passed by the Madras municipality proposing the creation of a park at the site of the

stables A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

of Messrs. Burghall and Company in

tah. The proposal was forwarded to the Government of

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency i ...

and on 15 April 1869, the proposal was approved and land was allotted for the construction of the park. The park was named after

Francis Napier, 10th Lord Napier Francis Napier, 10th Lord Napier and 1st Baron Ettrick, (15 September 1819 – 19 December 1898) was a British Polyglot (person), polyglot, diplomat and colonial Administrator of the Government, administrator. He served as the British Ambassado ...

, the

Governor of Madras This is a list of the governors, agents, and presidents of colonial Madras, initially of the English East India Company, up to the end of British colonial rule in 1947. English Agents In 1639, the grant of Madras to the English was finalized ...

at the time of its creation.

The park

The park covers about and was opened to the public on 13 September 1950 by the then Minister of Agriculture, A. B. Shetty. The park is used to hold public meetings during the May Day celebrations when rallies are conducted from the park. The park is divided into two portions. There are facilities for

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

and

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

on the eastern and western sides of the park. The park has been adopted and maintained by Simpson & Co.

References

{{Chennai Topics Parks in Chennai Urban public parks 1950 establishments in Madras State

History

The park

See also

References