Model Town Lahore 100 Years Ago (Episode 04)

Today, in 2025, if we want to travel from Model Town to Charing Cross, the Punjab Assembly or Aitchison College, we can reach these places in barely ten minutes, driving in modern hybrid cars along Lahore’s wide roads and through its underpasses.
But exactly one hundred years ago, in 1925, the same journey was almost unimaginable.
It was a journey that people of that era could neither experience in the way we do today nor easily imagine in their minds. The Lahore we know today simply did not exist in that form.
A century ago, if someone wanted to travel from Charing Cross, the Punjab Assembly or Aitchison College towards the newly established settlement of Model Town, there were essentially two possible routes.
The first route passed through Mozang and followed the old Kasur Road, which later became known as Ferozepore Road. At the time, this road was largely a rural cart track constructed with stone soling. According to the Lahore District Gazetteer of 1916, “Kasur Road has been metalled up to Ichhra and Sattukatla villages,” meaning that the road had been strengthened with stone as far as Ichhra and Sattukatla, although it had not yet been surfaced with tar.
A 1922 report of the Punjab Public Works Department similarly recorded that the “Ferozepore Road section from Lahore to Sattukatla is of stone soling construction, intended for later tar surfacing.”
People travelling towards Model Town therefore used tongas, bullock carts or horses along a rough stone road. During rainy weather, the surface could become slippery, while in dry conditions clouds of dust often rose from the road.
Beyond Mozang came Ichhra, a small but lively settlement that was described in the Punjab Gazette of the period as a semi urban hamlet. According to the Gazette, trade in grain, oil, cloth and pottery was common there, while local residents referred to the weekly market for agricultural produce and earthenware as the “Ichhra Mandi.”
From Ichhra, the route continued through the villages of Sattukatla, Kalakhtri and Chopra before reaching Rakh Kot Lakhpat.
Throughout the journey, travellers would have seen agricultural fields on both sides, rows of trees, irrigation channels, bullock carts and farmers going about their daily work.
Depending on the weather and road conditions, travelling from Charing Cross to Sattukatla could take between one and one and a half hours.
It was at the end of this route that land for the Model Town Cooperative Housing Society was selected in 1923, opening a new chapter in Lahore’s urban expansion.
There was also another, longer and more difficult route for anyone travelling from Charing Cross, the Punjab Assembly or Aitchison College towards the Model Town area.
Behind Aitchison College, an uneven and grass covered track ran alongside the newly excavated Bari Doab Canal. Travellers moved slowly along this path on bullock carts or horseback until they reached Kasur Road. From there, they turned left and continued towards Sattukatla village.
When water was first released into the canal in 1917, small bridges and crossings along its banks gradually began to be strengthened so that bullock carts, tongas and horses could pass more easily.
The canal also transformed the surrounding landscape. Its water made nearby agricultural land more fertile, fields became greener, and rows of shisham and peepal trees were planted along parts of the route.
On 19 May 1923, Lahore based newspaper The Civil and Military Gazette published a report referring to plans for the establishment of a new residential settlement in the south western part of the city.
According to the report, proposals were being considered for the creation of a “co operative housing colony” near the canal on the outskirts of Lahore.
The news further increased interest in the area, and land values gradually began to rise. People started purchasing agricultural land along the route, discussing future construction and imagining permanent homes in what was still largely countryside.
In this way, the direction of Lahore’s urban expansion slowly began to change.
To be continued... The remaining story will follow in the next episode.