Darul Ulūm Deoband is located in the city of Deoband in India. Prior to the construction of the madrasah, Deoband only had a small masjid known as the Chatte Wala Masjid. The community would often get together in that musjid and discuss amongst themselves that they had to find a way to help the future generations from the teachings that the British had introduced.
The following seventeen page research paper gives a good summary of the history of Deoband taken from numerous references.
Click the above link to access the PDF.