Balestier Road

Timeline

1. 1834

   Joseph Balestier arrives in Singapore. Over the next few years he leases about 1,000 acres of land and plants 220 acres with sugarcane, processed at a mill run by a steam engine. Balestier Road runs alongside what used to be his estate.

   Sources: NLB Infopedia, Balestier · NLB Infopedia, Joseph Balestier
2. 1836

   On 4 July 1836 he is appointed the first United States consul to Singapore. He takes up office in June 1837 and serves until 1852.

   Source: NLB Infopedia, Joseph Balestier
3. 1842

   Tigers kill two of the workers on his plantation.

   Source: NLB Infopedia, Balestier
4. 1843

   His wife Maria, a daughter of Paul Revere, gives St Andrew’s Church a bell cast by the Revere Copper Company. Her condition is that it rings for five minutes each night after the 8 pm gun. The bell is now in the collection of the National Museum of Singapore.

   Source: NLB Infopedia, Revere Bell
5. 1847

   Hokkien labourers from the sugar estate establish the Goh Chor Tua Pek Kong Temple, at what is now 249 Balestier Road. The same year, heavy rain destroys the sugarcane, and Maria Balestier dies.

   Sources: Roots.gov.sg, Goh Chor Tua Pek Kong Temple · NLB Infopedia, Balestier
6. 1848

   The plantation is put up for sale and Balestier leaves for the United States in poor health. He comes back on government business in 1849 and 1851, and resigns as consul in 1852. Later, the authorities acquire the estate and lease part of it to Chinese farmers.

   Source: NLB Infopedia, Balestier
7. 1905

   At 12 Tai Gin Road, off Balestier Road, Teo Eng Hock buys a villa as a retirement home for his mother and names it Wan Qing Yuan. It becomes a base for Sun Yat Sen’s revolutionary work, and in July 1908 Sun makes Singapore the Southeast Asia headquarters of his alliance. The villa was made a national monument in 1994 and renamed the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall in 1997.

   Sources: Roots.gov.sg, Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall · Roots.gov.sg, Monument Focus: Wan Qing Yuan
8. 1906

   Tan Boo Liat builds a wayang stage for Chinese opera beside the Goh Chor Tua Pek Kong Temple. It is one of the few free-standing wayang stages left in Singapore, and still hosts Chinese opera.

   Source: URA, Goh Chor Tua Pek Kong Temple
9. 1922

   Balestier Market is built, known locally as Or Kio Pa Sat, the “black bridge market”. It is the only rural market building left in Singapore, and is now a food centre.

   Source: Roots.gov.sg, Balestier Market
10. 1926

    Sim Cheng Neo builds the ornate row of shophouses at 292 to 312 Balestier Road, designed by Westerhout & Oman. In 1928 she builds 412 to 418 Balestier Road, designed by Kwan Yow Luen.

    Sources: URA, Balestier Road conservation area · Roots.gov.sg, Balestier Heritage Trail
11. 1940

    The Shaw Organisation opens its Malay Film Productions studio at 8 Jalan Ampas, off Balestier Road. Between 1941 and 1967 it makes more than 150 films, in what became known as the Golden Age of Malay Cinema. Its biggest star was P. Ramlee.

    Source: Roots.gov.sg, Former Malay Film Productions Studio
12. 1950s

    Art Deco apartment blocks go up at 230 and 246 Balestier Road. The land behind them had been vegetable farms and taro ponds, and an early Cantonese name for the area was Wu Hap Thong, meaning “taro pond”.

    Source: Roots.gov.sg, Art Deco apartment blocks
13. 1998

    Founder Bak Kut Teh, started in a Choa Chu Kang coffee shop in 1978, moves to the ground floor of 347 Balestier Road.

    Source: ieatishootipost, Founder Bak Kut Teh
14. 1999

    Shaw Plaza opens across the road in November, on the site of the Hoover and President cinemas, which were demolished in 1996.

    Source: Wikipedia, Hoover Theatre
15. 2003

    On 1 December, Balestier becomes a conservation area, covering groups of shophouses along Balestier Road between Thomson Road and Serangoon Road.

    Source: URA, Balestier Road conservation area