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Orchard Road. The road began as a country lane lined with bamboo hedge and shrubbery. Today, it has been transformed into an attraction for local residents, tourists, and workers, with over 5000 retail, entertainment, and dining establishments.

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Orchard Road was an unnamed country road lined with fruit orchards, nutmeg plantations, and pepper farms in the early 1830s. From 1847, there were reports of floods in the area. This would continue until the 1960s when there was a proper drainage system. In the 1800s, there were still many nutmeg plantations and a few pepper farms. In the 1850s, the plantations were developed for residential use; private houses and bungalows began to dominate the nearby Scotts Road and Tanglin Road. Jewish and Buddhist cemeteries, Hindu temples, outdoor hawker centres, wet markets, and an open-air laundry basin were built as well.

There were both hostile and celebratory events that happened in Orchard Road. Two bombs went off there, the first on 10 March 1965 at MacDonald House during the Indonesian Confrontation period, and the other at Faber House on 17 March 1985, when plastic explosives were used. But, there were also celebratory events such as the annual Christmas street light-up that is still continued till now, Chingay Parades, National Day Float Procession, and many other events.

The first shophouses at Orchard Road were built closer to Dhoby Ghaut following the growth of the city centre. Thai king Chulalongkorn who visited Singapore acquired the Hurricane House in early 1890s, and it became the Thai Embassy. The bulding still stands near the junction of Orchard Road and Scotts Road.

The image below is of the Christmas street light-up in 2015.

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Retail transformation only began in 1903, with the establishment of Singapore's first Cold Storage supermarket. In 1958, Orchard Road's first department store was set up by a local merchant, C.K. Tang, on an isolated plot of land facing a cemetery. When the old C.K. Tang building was demolished, it was replaced with the high-rise Tang Plaza where both the department store TANGS and the current Singapore Marriott Hotel are located. The green, curving roof still marks the location of the original department store, today known as TANGS.

By the 1970s, Orchard Road had replaced High Street as Singapore's main shopping street, and the introduction of cinemas and bowling allies in the '60s and '70s indicates that the area is the main entertainment hub. In 1974, Plaza Singapura, the first multi-storey shopping mall, was built on the site where it still stands today. Bigger and better malls and complexes were soon built as well.

The image below shows the present-day Plaza Singapura.

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4. What is the origin of the street name?

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4. What is the origin of the street name?

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Orchard Road got its name from the nutmeg, pepper and fruit orchards that the road once led to. Another way it got its name was because Mr Orchard, a keen gardener, owned plantations which stood at the corner of what is now Scotts Road and Orchard Road.

The picture below depicts the junction of Orchard Road and Scotts Road today.

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5. What is the significance behind naming the street?

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5. What is the significance behind naming the street?

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Orchard Road got its name from the acres of nutmeg plantations that sprouted since the 1830s and expanded in the height of the nutmeg boom. Thus, its name was obtained to recognise the numerous nutmeg plantations then. A sculpture of a nutmeg was even built in remembrance of this and can be found in Orchard Road today.

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These are a few memorable landmarks located in Orchard Road.
1. Hotel Singapura's 24 hour Coffee house, the first of it's kind at that time.
2. The Orchard Circus, a traffic island roundabout, which was in front of the Government House where Clemenceau Avenue cuts through Orchard Road. The Government House is now the Istana Negara.
3. Amber Mansions, which was demolished in 1984.
4. The Prince's Hotel Garni where the Crown Prince Hotel is today.