Kotagiri Missionary Union was founded by Rev. Dr. William Law Ferguson a Missionary in the American Baptist Mission of Madras, Rev. Ernest Scudamore Tanner a Missionary of the Church Missionary Society of Ellore, and Rev. Albert Woodhouse a Missionary of the Church Missionary Society of Masulipatnam in the year 1918 primarily as a rest and rejuvenation center for Missionaries in India.