08/06/2025
Hume McHenry School, Salisbury Park, Pune
Brief Early History
Soon after the Division office moved from Lucknow to Poona housed in rented quarters on 2401 East Street, two missionary ladies began a school in 1922 on the Poona-Bangalore Rd. When the Publishing House was completed in 1924, the Poona English Elementary School, as it was known moved into the chapel of OWPH while the Division office occupied the upper floor (Edwin Charles, “Hume McHenry School is Fifty Years Old,” Tidings, Dec 1988, 13).
In 1938 the school moved into renovated rooms on the ground floor of the Division Office which had been built eight years earlier. The renovation expenses of Rs 684 came from reserves for the purpose and Rs 500 for equipment came from profit through sale of land in Ranchi (Division Minutes # 6334, 6335, July 1938).
In 1942 the operation of the Poona School came under Spicer College which moved from Bangalore. However, the following year both the operation of the school and its budget was transferred to the Western India Union (Division Minutes, # 8259, June 6, 1943, 2213). In 1945 it was voted to construct a school building on the south side of the Salisbury Park church facing the main road (Division Minutes, # 8891, Mar 18, 1945, p 244). This was apparently completed with help from the Western India Union in 1948 (Division Minutes, Aug 29, 1948, 2907).
Meanwhile some felt the need for an English school which would serve the children of the Division staff (Division Minutes, Apr 15, 1948), and budgetary provision was made (Division Minutes, June 23, 1948). This materialized in the Grammar School being established in 1952 (Division Minutes, # 3844, 3855, 1952).
In 1954 it was voted that the Salisbury Park School would be operated as a church school. At this time A M Job was appointed principal (Division Minutes, 1954, # 257, 63).
The celebration of fifty years in 1988 was long overdue as the school could easily be traced to 1922. Nothing significant happned in 1938 other than that the school moved from the Publishing House to the Division Office.
