Karmatar -- First Adventist Mission Station in India

Elder D A Robinson and family were supposed to come to Calcutta, India with Georgia Burrus at the beginning of 1895 but actually came at the end of 1895. He soon made friends with Mr Haegert, a Baptist missionary who was working among the Santals. Six months later Elder Robinson boarded a train to Jamtara. The train was almost five hours late and he reached at about 2 a.m. A couple of horses and several coolies were waiting to take him the next twenty miles. You can read all about it in the Review and Herald of July 14, 1896. 

The Adventists enjoyed the drier climate of the area and two years later they rented a building near Karmatar Railway Station as the first SDA mission station in India. They opened a school for orphans and a dispensary.  Through the years perhaps more than any other mission station in the world Karmatar has seen SDA institutions come and go.  Here I try to piece together a crude history of Adventists in Karmatar. I have certainly missed a lot and definitely made some errors with years because the record is so sketchy. If anyone has more acurate information please correct me. And yes if you have pictures of pioneers or buildings, please send me copies. Let’s try to build on this.

At first the Adventists rented a building near the railway station.  They opened the Orphanage Industrial School in 1898. Unfortunately several orphans and then Elder Brown who was caring for the oprhans, and finally Elder DA Robinson himself caught the disease and died. The school understandably shut down for a while.

In 1902 the Adventists opened an English Boarding School in Karmatar with Thekla Black and Anna Orr in charge. In 1905 the Watchman Press moved to Karmatar so that students could also learn the printing trade. The English students moved out. And because it was hard to move supplies in and printed work out, the Press moved in 1909 to Lucknow. J C Little who had been in charge of the press caught cholera in East Bengal in 1910 and is also buried in Karmatar.

The Adventists had spent nearly Rs 12,000 in rent and so in 1911 they purchased several hectares of land and build a school, and several bungalows for missionaries and Indian families. Elder Borrowdale opned the Karmatar Middle English School in 1912. However, in 1915 it was decided to turn over the facilites to Santali work. A Santali Hindi Girls School had already opened in 1913 and in 1915 a Santali Hindi Boys School opened alongside. The girls school was directed by several ladies in turn, including Mrs Kellar, Mrs Borrowdale, Mrs C J Jenson, Mrs Leech. The two schools appear to have merged into the Karmatar Boarding Schoolaround1923 with Borrowdale and then L G Mookerjee in charge.  The boys section moved to Falakata and merged with the Northeast India Training School there in 1927 and the Girls school joined the Girls School in Calcutta.

In 1930 the Karmatar Mission Hospital opened under the leadership of Dr Hebbard.  However, three years later it moved out of Karmatar to Ranchi. A school operated in Karmatar called the Bihar Mission School and then Karmatar High School under L G Mookerjee till about 1941. Then the Karmatar Mission Press was opened to print material in vernacular languages though that lasted only for about a year 1946-1947. Then for a few years a school known as the Karmatar Secondary Boarding School and then Robinson Memorial School operated on the campus.

A little more than fifty years after the mission station opened in Karmatar the golden years literally began when the Northeast Union moved its headquarters from Calcutta to Karmatar.  In 1952 Elder Spies with Prasada Rao as Union secretary treasurer shifted to Karmatar with CJ Jenson, Japagnanam and Lange as departmental directors.

In 1954 Elder Storz moved in with BJ Williams as secretary. Others included S Jesudas, Lange, B Nowrangi with Japagnanam remaining.  In 1958 Storz was reelected with Appel as secretary. Jesudas, Nowrangi, Lange and Japagnanam were retained. Broderson was added. In 1962 Storz was reelected again with D David as secretary-treasurer. Others included Burr, Holford, P K Peterson, M C Lall and B W Fanwar. However in 1965 B J Williams took over from Storz. S John, William McHenry, P D Kujur came in at this time. M C Lall continued with the publishing department. G C Sircar and R N Dass were also there and the veteran Pastor Arinda.

In 1966 Pastor GJ Christo came in as president with McHenry as secretary and S John as treasurer. Others included RM Neish and C J Gorde. M C Lall, P D Kujur also served with the departments. G C Sircar B Nowrangi and R N Dass continued too. In 1970 Pastor Christo was re-elected and the team with McHenry, MC Lall, PD Kujur, B Nowrangi was retained. Konghat came in briefly. Swansi continued in the business office. However, in 1971 the Northeast Union was combined with the Northwest and the headquarters was in New Delhi. Karmatar housed section headquarters and a school for the blind which today is renamed Robinson Memorial School.

As the Southern Asia celebrates the centenary of the organization of the Division the church is being renovated. The members of the Division Executive Committee will convene for a dedication service there. On May 30.