Dharwad District - History

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Chalukyas ruled Dharwad during 12th century. A stone inscription indicates that there was ruler by the name BhaskaraDeva in 1117 AD. Later Dharwad became a part of the Vijayanagara
empire. After then fall of the Vijayanagara empire(1453 AD), Bijapur's Adil Shah captured Dharwad and built a fort. The fort area was called MannaKille, and later Nazratabad. With this fort , the
strategic importance of Dharwad increased and it thus became part of everyone's empire, Auranjeb, Shivaji ,Auranjeb's son Mu Azam, Peshwe Balaji Rao, Hidar Ali, Tipu Sultan and finally
British.

During early 19th century , when British were expanding their kingdom , they faced lot of opposition from local rulers.To mention two of them, Baba Saheb of Naragund and Kittur Rani
Chennamma.

Dharwad was peaceful for much part of late the 19th century. During those times, the British started English Medium school in Dharwad in 1848 and in 1856, started town municipality. Later in
1863, the Bassel Mission organization started another school. In 1867 British opened another school, Varmal school, which later on became known as Training college. In 1883, the municipality
area included Sidapur, Lakamanhalli, Haveri Pete, Bagtalan, Madihal, Galaganjikop, Malapur, Kamalapur, Narayanpur, Saptapur, Atti kolla and Hosayellapur. The British government also
established the Railway station in 1888.

Vidyavardha Sanga

The Karnataka Vidyavardhaka Sangha was established in 1890. The Sangha brought people of Dharwad together to excel in various fields like art , music , drama , culture and freedom struggle
. The Karnataka Vidyavardhaka Sangha's one of the greatest contribution, is uniting Kannada speaking population and the formation of Karnataka. Aluru Venkatraya was at the fore front of the
"Unite Karnataka" movement.

During the early 20th century, importance of Dharwad increased and it soon became a center of freedom struggle. The first political conference in Karnataka was held in Dharwad (1920). During
non cooperative movement (1921), the first ever police firing in whole of India took place in Dharwad. Dharwad participated actively in Khilafat and Quit India movements. There were many
police firings and lathi charges on people of Dharwad. A monument stands in the center of Dharwad in the memory of those who died in the struggle.

From 1947 Aug 15 to 1956 Oct 31, the district of Dharwad was in the Bombay province as the British Govt. divided it. On the 1st Nov 1956, after the state reorganization based on the language,
Dharwad became part of Karnataka State.

Important Events in Dharwad's history 1818 Dharwad came under complete British rule. General Munroe starts civil rule.

1820
Post office and District Collector's offices are established.

1820
Civil Magistrate's courthouse is built

1821
Collector Thackeray commences land survey

1824
Thackeray killed in the battle of Kittur by Rani Chennamma's forces

1826
First Marathi school

1830
Formation of the district of Dharwad

1830
Civil hospital built.

1831
First Kannada school

1835
First Silver coin comes in to circulation

1835
Samuel Hebik(?) arrives

1836
Basel Mission is setup

1840
Catholic Church is built.

1843
Dramerker(?) notes that Dharwad is the ideal to grow American cotton

1844
Hospital of mental health (mental hospital) established.

1845
Sunday declared holiday for schools and govt. offices

1848
Govt. English school established

1849
Gurunath Rao Pathak founded the Sanskrit Pathashala

1854
Lakshman Sripad Nagpurkar founded the Native General Library

1855
Mail used to arrive in bullock carts

1856
Municipality established

1858
School for Juvenile criminals established

1861
Venkat Rango Katti starts publishing the first Kannada monthly 'Gnanabodhaka'

1861
District Magistrates court house established.

1863
Basel Mission High School established

1865
Mens' Training college publishes the 'Vara Patrike' weekly

1866
Chennabasappa appointed Deputy Director of education

1866
Cholera epidemic in Dharwad

1867
A cloth Import/export commences

1868
First Girl's school established

1870
Ziggler comes to Dharwad

1872
Chickenpox epidemic in Dharwad

1872
First common census done

1873
Head Post office established

1876
Ziggler writes the Kannada-English Dictionary

1876
Mens' Training college building built

1876
Kerosene import commences.

1879
Karnataka school of Music (Sangeeta shale) established

1882
School started in Kamanakatti. Later this is to be known as the Victoria High school

1882
Southern Maratha Railway lays Meter gage railway

1883
Lingayat Abhivriddhi Samsthe started in Chennamallappa Tenginakai's house in Adiki Oni

1884
Dharwad upgraded to City Municipality

1885
Telegraph office becomes operational

1886
Dharwad Gymkhana Club established

1887
Railway office started which later becomes the Karnatak College

1888
Dharwad-Vasco Railway commences operation

1889
Karnataka Vidyavardhaka Sangha founded by R.H (Ra ha) Deshpande

1895
Shivaji and Ganesh festivals introduced by Balgangadhar Tilak

1895
Mitra Samaj Club established

1895
Women's training college founded

1896
Vagbhushana magazine started

1896
'Veni Samhara' - the Sanskrit play staged for the first time

1896
Severe famine hits Dharwad

1897
a place near the fort area allotted to the Lingayat Abhivriddhi Samsthe which later becomes known as the Town hall

1898
Plague hits the city

1902
The Theosophical society founded.

1907
Tilak visits Dharwad and delivers speech on the Anjuman college grounds

1907
Southern Maratha co-operative bank established which is later known as Mahalakshmi Urban co-op bank

1908
Minister Mure McKenzy suggests to Rodda Srinivasa Rao about founding the Karnatak College for higher education

1911
Water supply started from the Kelageri tank

1912
Vocalist Rehmat Khan settles in Dharwad

1913
Hukkerikar Ramaraya appointed the principal of the Victoria High School.

1914
Karnataka historical research center founded

1915
Lokamanya Tilak visits again.

1916
KCC bank established by Shantaveerappa Menshinkai

1917
Karnatak College is built

1918
Murugha Math Prasada Nilaya established

1919
Motor vehicles arrive

1920
Bharat Scouts and Guides school established

1921
Karnataka Education society's aided college commences. Rangular(?) Katti appointed principal. Datar and Divakar appointed teachers.

1920
Hukkerikar Ramrao appointed principal of Victoria High School; Shamba Joshi, D.R Bendre and Khanolkar serve as teachers

1920
Mahatma Gandhi visits

1920
Dharwad-Savadatti bus service started by Yamanappa Talvai

1921
Three Khilafat activists die in police firing near Jakani Bhavi

1921
Lala Lajpat Rao visits
 1922
KLE society founded. Hostel for Lingayat students established

1927
General strike against the Simon Commission

1928
Mallasarjana Vyayama Shala (gym) established

1930
Rangarao Divakar arrested for selling salt without paying tax. (The Dandi walk importance)

1930
Hukkerikar Ramrao, D.P Karmarkar and N.B Kabbur bring down the Union Jack Flag on top of the municipality building.

1931
Non cooperation movement in heat

1932
The harijans allowed to enter temples and wells

1933
Karnatak Natya Vilasi havyasi Nataka society founded by well known playwright Sriranga

1936
First Telephone exchange established

1936
Alur Venkatrao inspires to observe Dasara as the state festival

1936
Salunke participates in the Indian hockey team in the Berlin Olympics

1936
6th unification function presided by Dattopant Dalvi

1937
Strike in favor of establishing the Karnatak University

1938
Betageri Krishnasharma publishes the 'Jayanti' monthly magazine. Geleyara Gumpu (formed by Bendre) starts the monthly 'Jeevana'

1938
Subhash Chandra Bose visits. Hosamani Siddappa joins Bose's Forward Block

1938
World famous Bill Tilden and Henry Kosh(?) play tennis in the Rajyadhyaksha Pavilion

1939
Bose revisits

1940
Veer Savarkar visits

1942
Quit India movement influences Dharwad.

1942
Effort to burn the Karnatak College office building

1942
Two girls - Vimal Gulvadi and Shinolekar hoist the Tricolor Indian flag at the district collector's office.

1944
K.E.Board's Arts College founded, later known as JSS College.

1947
Agriculture College (now UAE) established

1947
Janata Shikshana Samiti founded

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