A Timeline of Indian Partition and Devon Avenue

1600 - The East India Company is founded to participate in the East Indian spice trade.

1757 - The East India Company acquires control of Bengal, a West Indian state. The EIC managed Indian policy in Bengal extremely poorly for years.

1770 - The Great Bengal Famine, which kills somewhere between 1 to 10 million people, largely brought on by the rule of the EIC.

1773 - The Regulating Act is passed by the British Parliament, which formalises British government control of the EIC’s political policy in India through a regulatory board whose actions would be responsible to the British Parliament. This marks the beginning of the EIC’s loss of commercial and political independence in India.

1830s - The city of Chicago is founded and European settlers begin spreading out to the north. 

1857 - The Sepoy Mutiny erupts. Indian troops in Bengal revolt over the introduction of the Enfield rifle, which was rumoured to have cartridges lubricated with pigs’ and cows’ lard that troops had to bite off (offensive to both Muslims and Hindus). The revolt quickly spreads across north India and becomes an Indian rebellion against British paramountcy in India.

1858-59 - The rebellion is quelled and Bahadur Shah II, the last Mughal emperor, is deposed by the British. The East India Company is fully dismantled and replaced by the British Raj, establishing direct colonial rule in India by the British government.

1877 - Queen Victoria is officially named the Empress of India.

1878 - Rogers Park incorporates as an independent village.

1885 - The Indian National Congress is formed, involving Indians in the country’s administrative and political affairs. 

1890 - West Rogers Park breaks away from Rogers Park into its own village. 

1893 - Both Rogers Park and West Rogers Park are annexed by the expanding city of Chicago. The World’s Columbian Exposition is held in Chicago and features buildings and exhibits from East India and Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

1909 - Punjabi immigrant Saint Nihal Singh publishes an article in the Chicago Daily Tribune titled “Dainty Dishes of the Hindoo Pleasing to American Palates,” which includes recipes for chutney, fritters, pickled onions, and chicken. 

1910 - The North Shore Channel is completed, bringing new jobs and industry to West Ridge.

1914 - World War I breaks out in Europe.

1917-1924 - U.S. Immigration Acts extend a ban on immigration to the entire Asia–Pacific region and establish a quota system for the rest of the world.

1920 - The Chicago Defender mentions an indian restaurant, The Hindustan, run by chef Ranji Smile, which may be the city’s first Indian restaurant. 

1930 - The population of West Ridge reaches 40,000 people.

1930 - The Indian National Congress demands Purna Swaraj, complete independence from the British. Mahatma Gandhi launches his Civil Disobedience Movement, a non-violence resistance movement against the British.

1938 - World War II breaks out in Europe.

1943 - Bengal Famine.

1945 - World War II ends, and the British appoint Clement Attlee as their new Prime Minister. He promises to set in motion British withdrawal from India.

1947 - Attlee appoints Lord Mountbatten as the final Viceroy of India to oversee Indian Independence. He forms the Boundary Commission, chaired by Sir Cyril Radcliffe, to partition India on the basis of religion, creating an East and West Pakistan. 

1947-1948 - Millions of Hindus and Muslims make treacherous journeys to cross the border into India or Pakistan. 15 million people in total become refugees. It is one of the largest and fastest mass migrations in human history. 

1948 - Gandhi is shot and killed by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist who, like many others, opposed Gandhi’s call for not just Indian Independence, but Indian unity — peace amongst Muslims and Hindus. 

1960 - The population of West Ridge reaches 64,000. Two-thirds of the neighborhood’s residents are Jewish. 

1963 - Another early Chicago Indian restaurant, House of India, opens in Lincoln Park, run by psychologist-turned-chef Col. Syed Abdullah.. 

1965 - The Hart–Celler Immigration Act reforms federal policy and eliminates the national quota system. Immigration to the U.S. from Asian countries increases significantly over the ensuing decades. 

1973 - India Sari Palace opens on Devon Avenue, the first South Asian business on the street.

1974 - The first Patel Brothers Grocery Store opens.

1977 - India Tribune begins publication. 

1980 - The Federation of Indian Associations Chicago is founded and soon begins sponsoring an annual parade on Devon Avenue in August to celebrate Indian Independence Day.

 1990 - The Indo-American Center is established in West Ridge.

2000 - Over 15,000 Asian residents call West Ridge home. 

2008 - The National Indo-American Museum is founded in Little India, Chicago. 

2011 - Ameya Pawar becomes the first South Asian alderman in the Chicago City Council, representing the 47th Ward’s North Center and Lincoln Square communities. 

2014 - Narendra Modi is elected Prime Minister of India with the BJP party. 

2019 - India revokes Jammu and Kashmir’s special autonomous status and brings it under direct government rule after an attack on an Indian paramilitary convoy brings about a near-war situation between India and Pakistan. 

2020 - The world premiere of Dhaba on Devon Avenue at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago is cancelled by the Covid-19 pandemic. Several Devon Avenue establishments, including the Southern Indian restaurant Mysore Woodlands, do not survive pandemic closures. The Mall of India opens in Naperville. 

2021 - Patel Brothers opens a new flagship store on Devon Avenue, and the National Indo-American Museum moves to a new facility in Lombard. 

2021 - Farmers, mainly in Punjab and Haryana, protest against Modi’s policies that would minimise government role in agriculture. Many farmers feared the speed at which Modi wanted to introduce private investment into India’s agriculture industry would leave them vulnerable to corporations. Modi would later repeal his policies.

2023 - TimeLine Theatre Company hosts a staged reading of Dhaba on Devon Avenue as part of their TimePieces series.

2025 - After one of the most violent attacks on Indian civilians in Kashmir in decades, India launches a surgical strike into Pakistan. 

2025 - Dhaba on Devon Avenue finally premieres at Writers Theatre in partnership with TimeLine.