{"id":3527,"date":"2016-09-03T02:39:22","date_gmt":"2016-09-03T02:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.carro.sg\/?p=3527"},"modified":"2025-11-05T17:23:58","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T09:23:58","slug":"how-roads-in-singapore-got-their-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carro.co\/sg\/blog\/how-roads-in-singapore-got-their-names\/","title":{"rendered":"The History Behind 10 Famous Streets of Singapore"},"content":{"rendered":"Ever wondered about the history behind the streets you live at? Singapore prides itself as a multi-racial country, and much of its history are actually represented by the green signboards we often overlook on streets. Take a trip down history lane as we explore the origins of some of the street names from decades ago.\r\n

1) Bugis Street<\/h2>\r\n
\"Dian
Dian Fang\/ Flickr: dianfang<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nWhat used to be Singapore's most infamous and sordid street is now a shopping haven for Singaporeans and tourists alike to pick up good bargains. Littered with street food stalls and shops selling knock-off designer goods, the streets have revamped entirely into the\u00a0most famous undercover street market in town.\r\n\r\nThe streets used to be\u00a0packed with\u00a0packed with foreign servicemen on R&R, gambling dens and nightly adult-themed shows performed by transvestites from the 1950s to the mid-1980s. The roadside-dining scene flourished\u00a0after the Second World War. Hawkers started to bring their trade of food and goods to Bugis Street. The lively bazaar culture attracted more visitors \u2013 both local and foreign. The foreign group was mostly made up of the colonial soldiers, tourists and sailors on shore leave.\r\n

2)\u00a0Duxton Hill<\/h2>\r\n
\"Dilys
Dilys Ng\/ Flickr: dilys-ng<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nDuxton Hill was originally a nutmeg plantation belonging to a wealthy Englishman, later owned by a party-throwing Portuguese dentist, and later still by a Arab spice trader, who in turn sold and leased parcels of the area to wealthy Chinese developers.\r\n\r\nIn the 1890s, the developers built multi-storey\u00a0shophouses in Duxton Hill and affluent Chinese moved into the area. Rickshaw pullers, whose ranks were growing fast since the rickshaw was introduced to Singapore a decade ago, found the hill a convenient place to park their rickshaws as it was close to the Jinrickshaw Station. With the influx of rickshaw pullers in the area, Duxton Hill\u00a0transformed into a hotspot for\u00a0opium dens, brothels, and gambling houses.\r\n\r\nWith the assistance of the Urban Redevelopment Authority, many of the area\u2019s shophouses were eventually restored to their original appearance. Trendy restaurants, high brow galleries, and modern\u00a0bars populated the newly conserved shophouses.\r\n

3)\u00a0Ang Mo Kio<\/h2>\r\n
\"Kelvin
Kelvin Ong\/ Flickr: 31140595@N03<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nThe name Ang Mo Kio is derived from the combination of two phrases in Hokkien, \u201cang mo dan\u201d (rambutan) a fruit which grew plentifully in old kampungs, and \"kio\" (bridge). It described a specific spot easily recognised by the residents, as there were many concrete bridges built back then.\r\n\r\nSettlers were attracted to the area only around the start of the 20th century, as a result of the rubber boom.\u00a0The immigrant Chinese, mostly Hokkiens, were engaged in rubber-planting and tapping. Cheng San Village, where Ang Mo Kio New Town now stands, was once a huge rubber plantation. During World War II when Singapore was occupied, more people moved to Ang Mo Kio to take up farming.\r\n\r\nFun fact: Ang Mo Kio has avenues 1 to 10, although Ang Mo Kio Avenue\u00a07 does not exist.\r\n

5)\u00a0Sengkang<\/h2>\r\n\"Middle_Road-Singapore\"\r\n\r\nSengkang directly translates to\u00a0\"prosperous harbour\" in Chinese, and was once occupied by fishing villages and rubber and pepper plantations.\u00a0Fishing villages and rubber, pepper and pineapple plantations flourished in the area in the old days.\r\n\r\nFrom its days as a fishing village, Sengkang has undergone rapid development over the years.\u00a0Before the town was developed into a modern housing estate, the area was home to vegetable and pig farms, and tropical forests.\r\n\r\n6)\u00a0Keong Saik Road<\/strong>:\u00a0Named after Tan Keong Saik,a Singaporean businessman who strongly advocated education and equality of rights for women. He\u00a0was also appointed Justice of Peace and Municipal Commissioner.\r\n\r\n7)\u00a0Bukit Merah<\/strong>: Directly translating to Red Hill, this street\u00a0was named after a jealous sultan who sent soldiers to kill a young boy.\r\n\r\n8) Choa Chu Kang<\/strong>: Named\u00a0after the\u00a0plantation owners\u00a0known as Kangchu,\u00a0the word \"kang\" refers to the riverbank and \"chu\" means \"owner\" or \"master\", referring to the headman in charge of the plantations in the area.\r\n\r\n9)\u00a0Ann Siang Hill<\/strong>:\u00a0Once known as Scott\u2019s Hill and Gemmill\u2019s Hill, it was bought over by wealthy businessman Chia Ann Siang.\r\n\r\n10)\u00a0Jiak Chuan Road<\/strong>:\u00a0Named after Tan Jiak Chuan, who left behind large sums of money for the Raffles Institution and Tan Tock Seng Hospital after his death.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ever wondered about the history behind the streets you live at? Singapore prides itself as a multi-racial country, and much of its history are actually represented by the green signboards we often overlook on streets. Take a trip down history lane as we explore the origins of some of the street names from decades ago. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[725],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle-car-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carro.co\/sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carro.co\/sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carro.co\/sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carro.co\/sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carro.co\/sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/carro.co\/sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16446,"href":"https:\/\/carro.co\/sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3527\/revisions\/16446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carro.co\/sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carro.co\/sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carro.co\/sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carro.co\/sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}