A forgotten profession gives this road its name, its history

Till 1742, these activities took place in the Dockyard itself. Due to space constraints, the cooperage then moved to a hired warehouse at the Waters Edge until 1781, when the government “resolved to erect a proper shed at the Apollo Ground for the reception of the King’s provisions.”

This time, the shed was moved after Rear Admiral Hughes protested, saying the buildings were too close to the garrison in the area. It was this new shed at Apollo Ground that gave the Cooperage area its name. Though the shed moved to the Dockyard in 1886 when new stores were built, the name stuck. To this day, the street, the Cooperage Football Ground and the Cooperage Telephone Exchange building borrow their names from the locality’s history. “The street may be plain-looking, but its beauty lies in the Cooperage Bandstand that people identify it with,” says Rao.

Today, several trees, some old, some seemingly ancient, line this road protectively, forming a shady roof for its paved path. For the most part, it is flanked on one side by the Cooperage Football Ground.

Old colonial constructions such as Meher House (1901), Jhansi Castle, the Campion School and the stone edifice of the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts grace the other. The simplicity of this street lies in its name being not a tribute to a famous personality, but one simply derived from a mundane part of Mumbai’s history, that has trickled down to its present.