The Bombay Catholic welfare organization had registered a society under the name of St. Anthony’s Homes Co-operative society in Chembur in 1925 when this suburb lacked elementary amenities that were fairly commonplace in the city. However, the land was fairly cheap-and provided a peaceful refuge from the noise, bustle and congestion of the city.

Mr. Aloysius Soares bought a lot of land from the department and divided it into four schemes--scheme B, apart from residential area, provided for a Convent school and a spacious playground.  A school was the basic need. Mr. Soares and his group of followers decided to put up a pavilion to be used as a school and a chapel. The pavilion was ready in 1934.A couple of years earlier in 1932, Miss. F Nunes, daughter of Capt. F. Nunes, a retired military doctor and pioneer settler in the colony , had opened an English class at her residence with just four children. As the number kept growing, Mr. Soares and his dedicated co-workers engaged a couple of rooms in the Development hutments, and there she continued her class. When the pavilion was completed, the school was transferred there. She carried on the burden of the school till April 1950, helped by local teachers; two of whom were the daughters of Mr. Soares, Grace and Angela. The school proved to be a boon to Chembur. It was open to all communities without any discrimination. Mr. Soares says, “Our school was getting overcrowded with increasing population.

We were not in a position to put up a building and were on the lookout for a religious 

Congregation of women to settle in Chembur. Nothing would conduce to rapid development as a first class school. We had only one piece of ground. I prevailed upon the society to preserve it for a Nun’s Congregation. We needed a girl’s school which could be co-educational in earlier stages. Grown up boys could more easily attend schools in Bombay than growing girls.” He further adds, “In 1949 through Fr. Damien Fernandez, brother of Dr. Fernandez, I got in touch with the congregation of St. Joseph, an educational order maintaining several high schools in Central Provinces. After negotiations they agreed to take over the school and put up a building in the plot originally reserved for a boy’s school. They took charge of the school in 1950 and stayed in an annexe to the pavilion.”The foundation stone of St. Anthony Girls’ High School was laid by Raja Maharaj Singh, Governor of Bombay, on January 29, 1951, and Archbishop of Bombay, Mgr. Valerian Gracias, blessed it. On April 20, 1952 the new school was inaugurated by the Mayor of Bombay, GN Desai. It was a spacious edifice with a beautiful chapel and residential quarters for the nuns. The first nun to undertake this responsibility was Mother Xavier who belonged to St. Joseph Congregation, Chambery.   

Adapted from:

Down The Corridors of Time.,

Recollections and Reflexion.

Vol.1 1891-1948

By. Aloysius Soares.