The Old School on the Hill
December - Jesuits arrive in Darjeeling to take over a Catholic School established in 1877 and renamed as St Joseph’s Seminary in 1879 by Capuchin Fathers.
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.
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.
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
1893: June - Creation of the Front Flat
3 April - First Cricket Match with St Paul’s School which North Point Won.
The First Coat of Arms with its motto ‘SURSUM CORDA’ appeared in the School’s Calendar
1894 : Midnight of 21 February - Major Earthquake. No damage to the College
1895 : Fr John Schaefer was appointed Rector
The Special Department (University section) moved to the West Wing of the building. There were 20 small but comfortable cubicles.