This hill station is developed by the Americans. While looking out for a place to find peace, Lieutenant B. S. Ward in 1821, a British surveyor and the foreign missionaries of Madurai found this place.
They travelled by horse, bullock cart and palanquin. Because of the climate and clean air, it became a popular site for them to relax and escape from summer. The Collector of Madurai during 1824 built a small bungalow at Kodaikanal and few churches and colonial structures also emerged in and around Kodaikanal. Union Church built in 1895, and a large number of private bungalows are the perfect examples of those structures. In 1863, Sir Vere Hendry Levinge, the Collector of Madurai, created the 60 acres Kodai Lake stocked with fish inside and the first boat from Tuticorin was brought which lead to the boat club. Church properties, summer holiday-homes, clubs, school and hotels, civic amenities were established. Now it has become a famous tourist spot.