Balestier Heritage Trail Booklet
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BALESTIER HERITAGE TRAIL A COMPANION GUIDE DISCOVER OUR SHARED HERITAGE OTHER HERITAGE TRAILS IN THIS SERIES ANG MO KIO ORCHARD BEDOK QUEENSTOWN BUKIT TIMAH SINGAPORE RIVER WALK JALAN BESAR TAMPINES JUBILEE WALK TIONG BAHRU JURONG TOA PAYOH KAMPONG GLAM WORLD WAR II LITTLE INDIA YISHUN-SEMBAWANG 1 CONTENTS Introduction 2 Healthcare and Hospitals 45 Tan Tock Seng Hospital Early History 3 Middleton Hospital (now Development and agriculture Communicable Disease Centre) Joseph Balestier, the first Former nurses’ quarters (now American Consul to Singapore Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine) Dover Park Hospice After Balestier 9 Ren Ci Community Hospital Balestier Road in the late 1800s Former School Dental Clinic Country bungalows Handicaps Welfare Association Homes at Ah Hood Road Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital Tai Gin Road and the Sun Yat The National Kidney Foundation Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall Eurasian enclave and Kampong Houses of Faith 56 Chia Heng Goh Chor Tua Pek Kong Temple Shophouses and terrace houses Thong Teck Sian Tong Lian Sin Sia Former industries Chan Chor Min Tong and other former zhaitang Living in Balestier 24 Leng Ern Jee Temple SIT’s first housing estate at Fu Hup Thong Fook Tak Kong Lorong Limau Maha Sasanaramsi Burmese Whampoe Estate, Rayman Buddhist Temple Estate and St Michael’s Estate Masjid Hajjah Rahimabi The HDB era Kebun Limau Other developments in the Church of St Alphonsus 1970s and 1980s (Novena Church) Schools Seventh-Day Adventist Church Law enforcement Salvation Army Balestier Corps Faith Assembly of God Clubs and Leisure 36 Former shooting clubs Food Heritage 67 Singapore Polo Club Balestier Market Balestier Plain: from landing Street hawkers and markets ground to sports field Whampoa Makan Place Singapore Indian Association Traditional kopitiam and Kamala Club Ceylon Sports Club Selected Bibliography 73 Singapore Khalsa Association Singapore Chinese Recreation Club Credits 76 Civil Service Club and Shitoryu Karate Association Suggested Short Trail Routes 77 Former Malay Film Productions studio at Jalan Ampas Heritage Trail Map 81 2 INTRODUCTION The Sim Kwong Ho shophouses along Balestier Road, 2018 he Balestier precinct is named after institutions such as Goh Chor Tua Pek Kong Joseph Balestier, the first American Temple, Thong Teck Sian Tong Lian Sin Sia TConsul to Singapore, who owned a and Masjid Hajjah Rahimabi Kebun Limau; sugarcane plantation there. Today, the area is as well as numerous sports clubs located on well-known for eateries as well as shops selling Balestier Plain. lighting equipment and bathroom goods. The Balestier Heritage Trail uncovers the rich During the 1900s, the Balestier precinct started history of the area as it transformed from a to evolve into a residential neighbourhood, plantation into a precinct filled with shophouses and it was in Balestier where the Singapore and buildings with diverse architectural styles. Improvement Trust (SIT) built its first housing It also explores the communities, clubs, estate at Lorong Limau in the 1930s. Most of schools, healthcare institutions and religious the SIT houses were later replaced by Housing landmarks that collectively make up Balestier’s & Development Board flats by the late 1970s. unique cultural landscape. Within the precinct, there are a number of Follow us on this self-guided trail as we explore important sites and landmarks such as Tan Balestier’s rich heritage and gain insights into Tock Seng Hospital and the former Malay this precinct through the memories of those Film Productions studio; religious and cultural who have lived, worked and played here! 3 EARLY HISTORY ike much of Singapore in the early 1800s, DEVELOPMENT AND AGRICULTURE the Balestier precinct was covered in In the first decade after Singapore became a Lforest. A small river, initially known as British settlement in 1819, the Balestier area Balestier River and later renamed Sungei was still terra incognita (unknown territory) Whampoa, ran through the area and emptied and considered part of the island’s unexplored into the Kallang River Basin. interior. The British later cleared forests and built roads to provide access to the area. This Sungei Whampoa was fed by tributaries that painstaking work was carried out by Indian originated in the vicinity of Bukit Brown, Mount convicts, who were first transported to Singapore Pleasant and Thomson Road. In the 1860s, the in 1825 to serve as indentured labourers. area west of Thomson Road was developed into Thomson Road Reservoir, which was By the late 1830s, the lower end of Balestier renamed MacRitchie Reservoir in 1922 Road (still unnamed) had been constructed, after municipal engineer James MacRitchie. as seen from a map drawn by surveyor George MacRitchie Reservoir remains the primary Dromgold Coleman (1795-1844) in 1836. The source of Sungei Whampoa today. map showed Balestier Road starting from the junction of Serangoon Road and Lavender North of Sungei Whampoa were hills and Street (both then unnamed as well), and ending swamps that later became known as Toa Payoh near the present junction of Moulmein Road. (“big swamp” in Hokkien, payoh being derived from paya, Malay for “swamp”). Meanwhile, Coleman’s map depicted a largely agricultural Balestier Road’s southern side was a hilly landscape around Balestier Road. Sirih (betel) area which was later occupied by a Teochew and vegetable gardens lined the area around cemetery and Tan Tock Seng Hospital. the junction of Balestier Road and Serangoon Balestier Road (unnamed) as indicated in the Map of the Town and Environs of Singapore by George Dromgold Coleman, 1836 Survey Department Collection, courtesy of National Archives of Singapore 4 Balestier Road and Balestier River (now Sungei Whampoa) as indicated in the Plan of Singapore Town and its Adjoining Districts by John Turnbull Thomson, 1846 Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore Road. South of Balestier Road were vast paddy During the early 1820s, Balestier was mostly fields. These gardens and fields were probably based at St Thomas, a Caribbean island, where established by early settlers to provide food he learned about growing and processing for the island’s growing population. sugarcane. He also served as a Consular Commercial Agent on the island of Puerto Rico. Coleman marked the area north of Balestier These stints equipped him with the skills to Road as being “partly cleared for sugar and later work as a planter and Consul in Singapore. cotton plantations”. This same area was later depicted as a “sugar plantation” in a map From 1824-30, Balestier established a trading drawn by surveyor John Turnbull Thomson business in New York City, but unfortunately (1821-84) in 1846. The plantation was owned this venture failed. Balestier then applied to the by Joseph Balestier, the first American Consul US government for an overseas posting, and to Singapore, and the adjoining road was in 1833, Balestier was appointed America’s named after him. Consul to Riau (now Bintan). By this time, Balestier Road had been extended The Balestiers arrived at Riau in May 1834 to the present Kim Keat Road junction, and only to find a quiet port with no European fruit trees lined the road as well as the hilly or American merchants. This was because area north of Moulmein Road (then known as regional trade had shifted to Singapore by Cross Garden Road). The entire area was then then. The Balestiers promptly relocated to known as Rochore District after the Rochor Singapore where they first resided in Boustead River which formed its southern boundary. Building, a warehouse by the Singapore River. Balestier then wrote to the US government to JOSEPH BALESTIER, THE FIRST AMERICAN be redesignated Consul to Singapore instead, CONSUL TO SINGAPORE and this change was formalised in 1837. Born in 1788, Joseph Balestier lived in Boston, a city in the state of Massachusetts in the United Balestier’s consular duties included looking States of America (USA). He married Maria after and helping distressed and shipwrecked Revere (1785-1847) in 1814 and she bore their American sailors or those accused of crimes. only son Joseph Warren Revere Balestier in 1819. To supplement his meagre salary as Consul, 5 Balestier also worked as a shipping agent, the cane fields in the 1840s. These Hokkien taking a commission for goods he bought or workers established Goh Chor Tua Pek Kong sold on behalf of visiting vessels, and supplied Temple in 1847, which still stands at Balestier provisions to visiting ships. Road today (more details about this temple can be found on page 56). These sources of supplementary income allowed the Balestiers to relocate to a Balestier’s efforts bore fruit in 1838 when his bungalow at Kampong Gelam in October 1834. sugarcane was finally ready for harvest. After The Balestiers stayed at Kampong Gelam until processing the crop, he placed newspaper 1836, when they relocated to a two-storey advertisements to sell “Singapore (Muscovado house along North Bridge Road (now the site and bleached) sugar manufactured according to of Capitol Theatre). late improvement” and “Singapore molasses”. Muscovado is a kind of brown sugar while Balestier the planter molasses is a thick sugary fluid. Balestier also Balestier was an active member of the colonial manufactured rum, an alcoholic beverage made community, serving on the Grand Jury and in from sugarcane juice. the Singapore Chamber of Commerce. He also provided information about the USA to local In 1840, Balestier’s family moved to the estate, newspapers and wrote articles about agriculture. where they lived in a small wooden plantation house with two bedrooms, a parlour and a Balestier was able to apply his agricultural dining room. The house was later extended to knowledge in 1835, when he successfully accommodate up to 14 servants who cooked applied for 1,000 acres of land for use as a and took care of livestock. While Maria took plantation. The land, which was bordered care of the household and plantation workers, by Balestier Road, Serangoon Road, Sungei Balestier managed the estate with the help of Whampoa and Kim Keat Road, was originally a his son and another assistant.