The Law College at George Town, c. 1905.
the French occupied Madras in 1746 and returned it to the English in 1749 in exchange for Quebec
the English flattened a part of Black Town in order to have a clear field for fire in the event of a future attack.
In 1773, the English erected 13 pillars along the flattened area of the Black Town and banned construction in any form between the pillars and the fort which would otherwise block the view of possible invaders.
Soon a new township, known as the new Black Town, came up beyond these pillars and the old Black Town gave way to the Madras High Court.
A thoroughfare was formed along the stretch between the pillars and the high court which later became the China Bazaar Road. The only surviving one of the 13 pillars is being maintained in the compound of the Parry's building.
In 1772, the first organised water supply of Madras began with the Seven Wells Scheme. On one occasion, Mysore ruler Hyder Ali's troops even tried to poison the water source one night.
In the following centuries, High Court buildings and first light house tower with architectural beauty came up in an area where an old Hindu temple of Sri Chenna Kesava perumal and Chenna Malleswara swamy existed. (This temple was demolished and later shifted to the present place near Mint Street on Nethaji Subhash Chandra Bose Road and is popular amongst Hindus as Pattanam Koil.)
Several Tamil refugees from Burma, who fled Myanmar during the early sixties, arrived in George Town. In 1969, the Burma Bazaar, a market selling imported foreign goods in shops on pavements, was established by these Burmese refugees-turned-entrepreneurs.[