St Stephen’s College: The Untold Story of Its Humble Beginnings in Chandni Chowk

From Chandni Chowk classrooms to North Campus lawns, St Stephen’s College has grown with India itself, shaping ideas, sparking movements, and nurturing generations through stories that still live on today.

By Nishtha Kawrani

Edited By Khushi Arora

By Nishtha Kawrani08 Jan 2026

New Update

St Stephen college DU — Nearly 150 years on, St Stephen’s remains what it has always been — a place where ideas gather, friendships form, and history quietly moves forward. Photograph: (Money Control and So Delhi)

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The Vishwavidyalaya Metro opens into a familiar North Campus rhythm — groups of students lingering over chai, laughter weaving through conversations, hands busy with samosas and pani puri before the walk ahead. Just a few steps away, red-brick buildings appear through the trees, calm and quietly inviting. St. Stephen’s College doesn’t announce itself loudly; it simply waits, open and assured, as it has for generations.

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Inside, the pace slows almost naturally. Sunlight filters through old trees, footsteps echo softly across courtyards, and history settles in like a comforting companion rather than a lesson.

This is more than one of Delhi University’s most admired colleges — it is an institution that has been shaping young minds since 1881, long before the idea of a university campus even took form here.

It’s a piece of living history, sometimes loud with laughter from ‘Shakespeare Society’ rehearsals, sometimes quiet like its early days in the dusty lanes of Old Delhi.

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From Chandni Chowk to North Campus lawns

Long before traffic bottlenecks and metro exits defined this part of the city, St Stephen’s began life on 1 February 1881 in Chandni Chowk. Founded by the Cambridge Mission to Delhi under Samuel Scott Allnutt, the college started with just five students and three teachers, operating out of rented Mughal-style mansions.

Can you imagine?

The ancestors of future diplomats, writers, scientists and activists huddled over logic and literature amidst the racket of the old city. Those humble beginnings laid the foundation for what’s now one of India’s most iconic colleges.

By 1891, Stephen’s moved to a grander campus near St James’ Church, Kashmere Gate, and in 1941, to its current sprawling red-brick home in the DU Enclave — the same buildings whose architecture still stops visitors mid-stride.

A campus that didn’t just witness history, it took part in it

St Stephen’s College was never a quiet spectator to the world beyond its walls. From its earliest decades, the campus was deeply entangled with the social and political churn of colonial India, a place where ideas were debated as passionately as textbooks were studied.

In 1906, the college crossed a significant threshold when Sushil Kumar Rudra became its first Indian principal. This was more than an administrative change. At a time when most elite institutions were still firmly under British leadership, Rudra’s appointment signalled a shift that gave Indian voices greater authority within academic spaces.

His leadership subtly transformed Stephen’s from a missionary college into a more intellectually plural, politically aware institution.

St Stephen college — From Chandni Chowk classrooms to North Campus lawns, St Stephen’s continues to shape minds, moments and movements.
Photograph: (College dunia)

Rudra’s circle extended well beyond the college. Among his closest associates was Revd. Charles Freer Andrews, a professor at Stephen’s who later became one of Mahatma Gandhi’s most trusted allies. Known as Deenabandhu, or ‘Friend of the Poor’, Andrews believed education carried a moral responsibility — a conviction he brought directly into the classroom.

It was through these relationships that Stephen’s found itself at the crossroads of the Indian freedom movement. Conversations that shaped national resistance often unfolded in drawing rooms connected to the college.

In fact, historical accounts suggest that one of the letters that laid the groundwork for the Non-Cooperation Movement was drafted at Rudra’s residence, not far from campus. The idea that such a pivotal moment in India’s independence journey took shape within Stephen’s ecosystem adds an entirely new dimension to its legacy.

But the college’s engagement with history did not stop at intellectual exchanges. Students and alumni were active participants in revolutionary movements, sometimes at great personal cost.

Names like Amir Chand and Avadh Behari, both former Stephenians, appear in records of the Delhi Conspiracy Case of 1913 — an audacious attempt to assassinate the then Viceroy, Lord Hardinge. The plan failed, and its consequences were tragic, but it underscored how deeply young minds from this campus were willing to commit themselves to the cause of freedom.

Through the decades leading up to Independence, Stephen’s remained a space where nationalism, reform, faith, and education intersected. British officials, Indian leaders, reformists, missionaries and students crossed paths — sometimes in agreement, often in conflict — but always in conversation. This made the college not just a centre of learning, but a forum of ideas, where the future of a nation was debated in classrooms, chapels and shaded lawns.

Walking across Andrews Lawns now, it’s easy to miss these echoes, but you’re literally pacing over the memories of conversations with Gandhi and friendships that shaped history.

The gender story: co-ed, all-male, and co-ed again

If Stephen’s history were a movie, gender inclusion would be one of its dramatic subplots. In its early years, women attended classes, which was rare then, but by 1950, the college became all-male.

Only in 1975 did it return to co-education, aligning itself with a more modern, inclusive campus culture.

The spaces where campus life truly comes alive

At Stephen’s, societies are almost sacred. Forget just clubs — these are institutions in themselves.

The Shakespeare Society, often cited as the oldest collegiate theatre society in India, has left its imprint across generations. Alumni still recall rehearsals stretching late into the night, Shakespearean lines floating through corridors.

The Social Service League forms the backbone of the college’s service ethos, living out the motto “Service Above Self” through community outreach, teaching programmes, and sustained engagement beyond campus walls.

The History Society, active since 1916, continues to host lectures, heritage walks, and publish its own magazine — keeping inquiry alive outside classrooms.

These spaces are where friendships form, interests sharpen, and college memories take root.

Alumni: from campus corridors to national and global stages

Stephenians have carried their campus experiences far beyond these lawns. From Shashi Tharoor charming global audiences to Shekhar Kapur directing blockbuster films and Konkona Sen Sharma dazzling cinema, there are many more.

Add top policymakers, scientists, journalists and public intellectuals to that roster, and you see how a college that started with five curious minds became a generator of brilliance for generations.

So the next time someone sits under a tree near the Chapel, chai in hand, it’s worth pausing for a moment. This isn’t just a campus — it’s a space shaped by nearly 150 years of curiosity, conversation and quiet courage.

At St Stephen’s, history isn’t frozen in time. It moves through classrooms, friendships, and debates, shaped as much by today’s students as by those who came before them.