Tamil Nadu Timeline

InfrastructureEast India Company rule

Madras's first standalone lighthouse begins operation

· Madras High Court

Madras's first standalone lighthouse begins operation
Balamurugan Srinivasan, CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

A granite Doric column built north of Fort St. George began working as Madras's lighthouse on 1 January 1844.

The first light at Madras was a lantern on the roof of a building in Fort St. George, in use from 1796. Work on a new lighthouse, a tall fluted granite Doric column, began in 1838 and was completed in 1843. It started functioning on 1 January 1844. The column stands within the compound of the present Madras High Court and served until 1894. It was the city's first standalone lighthouse.

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