Cubbon Park historical timeline

Cubbon Park grew from a colonial public garden into a protected civic landscape surrounded by institutions. Its successive names remain visible in public memory: Sri Chamarajendra Park is official, while Cubbon Park is the name almost everyone uses.

Chronology

1. 1864 Attara Kacheri is completed near the future park edge. Its red two-storey façade remains one of the principal architectural markers around the landscape.
2. 1870 Mysore’s chief engineer Richard Sankey lays out a public park of about 100 acres during John Meade’s administration. The central green framework begins with roads, planting and open ground.
3. 1873 The park is renamed for former commissioner Mark Cubbon. That popular name survives even after a later official renaming.
4. 1876 The Government Museum is established in the precinct. Museum, park and civic architecture begin to form one connected cultural district.
5. 1906 A statue of Queen Victoria is installed. Later memorials create a dispersed record of the princely and colonial city along the walking routes.
6. 1915 The Seshadri Iyer Memorial Hall is completed. Its red façade and library use become one of the park’s most recognisable focal points.
7. 1927 The park is officially renamed Sri Chamarajendra Park in memory of Chamarajendra Wadiyar X. Signage carries the formal identity, while everyday speech continues to favour Cubbon Park.
8. 1975 Karnataka’s park-preservation law establishes a stronger legal framework around protected public parks including Cubbon Park and Lalbagh. Later disputes over construction are read against that protection.
9. 2020 The equestrian statue of Mark Cubbon is moved from the High Court grounds into the park. The relocated memorial adds another layer to the landscape’s changing civic interpretation.

Survival and management

The park survives because it is used and contested, not because it has remained unchanged. Roads, institutions, recreation areas and security boundaries divide parts of the original landscape, while public campaigns and preservation rules resist further loss.

Tree replacement, storm damage, path repair and traffic policy continue to alter the experience. The official name, statues and colonial-era buildings also require context: they document Mysore State and British administration without turning the park into a memorial to only one period.

• Official website
• Wikipedia