Abutting the transportation hub of Park Town, the neighbourhood covers a rectangular area north of the Poonamallee High Road.

Vepery is among those oldest neighbourhoods developed during the British settlement in the city of Madras.

Christian missionaries started arriving in the neighbourhood as early as 1749, soon after the treaty of Aix la Chapelle when the city was restored to the English from the French.

On 1 March 1855, the Madras Parental Academic Institution and Doveton College were established at Vepery within the local limits of the then city of Madras.

John Doveton, who served as a captain commandant of the Seventh Regiment of Infantry.