NORTH POINT HISTORY

History of St Joseph’s College (School Department) The Old School on the Hill

The school was founded by Fr. Henri Depelchin, a Belgian Jesuit in 1888. He also began St. Xavier's Kolkata and St. Xavier's Mumbai. The school went from the Belgian Jesuits to the Canadian Jesuits and now to its present management.
The school has over 1200 students from different nationalities and has educated members of the royal families of Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim and Tibet. There are students from Bangladesh, Thailand and from most of the states of India.

1988

January - Fr Henry Depelchin arrived in Darjeeling
13 February 1888 - Official opening of St Joseph’s College at Sunnybank (above the present Bishop’s House, Darjeeling) 14 February 1888 - Classes Begin with 25 students (18 boarders and 7 Day- scholars) 10 July 1888 - The North Point property was bought from the Government of India. Building work was entrusted to Brother Eugene Rotsaert who with the help of 2000 men leveled the ground by the end of December 1888. 15 August 1888 - Affiliation of Boys’ Sodality to the Prima Primaria in Rome 16 November 1888 - First Rector’s Day 13 December 1888 - The End of the First Academic Year December 1888 - Ladbrooke Farm (the present UD Flat) was acquired from the Maharaja of Burdwan on a long lease.

1889

22 February - Beginning of the second academic year at Sunnybank Cadet Corps came into being in the College 2 May 1889 - The Foundations for the College building marked out 3 May 1889 - First cricket match. The opponents were an Army team. St Joseph’s College won. 10 May 1889 - Building work started. Stones were quarried from Ladbrooke Farm. 27 April 1890 - Blessing of the foundation stone by His Grace, Archbishop Goethals.

1891

8 December - Blessing of the New College building by Fr Depelchin

1892

Fr Neut was appointed Rector Establishment of a section for University Students known as the ‘Special Department’. This section prepared young men for the different government Examinations such as the Superior Branch Accounts, Police, Finance, Opium, Forest etc. as well for the London Matriculation Examination, and for Entrance into the Thomson C.E. College, Roorkee, and Cooper’s Hill. 18 February 1892 - Classes began in the New Building at North Point. February - Visit of Lord Lansdowne, Viceroy of India

SURSUM CORDA

The School Motto is in Latin "Sursum Corda" which means, Lift up Your Hearts. The Vision of the school reads: Inspired by Jesus and guided by Ignatian ideals, we at St. Joseph's School aim at the holistic education of our students in order to create a just and humane society.

The Mission Rooted in the Gospel Values and Ignatian Spirituality, we the Jesuits, staff and students of St. Joseph's School, together commit ourselves to strive for academic, spiritual, social, emotional and physical excellence in order to become men forothers