Orchard Heritage Trail offers glimpse into past

Orchard Road may be a famous shopping haven today but its name holds a clue to its past.

In the earlier days, its fertile soil gave rise to many gambier plantations and nutmeg orchards, which was how the area got its name.

Hills such as Emerald, Claymore and Cairnhill sat in the area and their names now exist on street signs, even if the hills themselves are gone.

The lesser-known details of the shopping area feature in a new Orchard Heritage Trail, launched by the National Heritage Board (NHB) yesterday, as part of Our SG Heritage, a five-year masterplan.

Stretching from Dhoby Ghaut to Tanglin, the self-guided trail features 71 heritage sites and 10 markers. Among the highlights are Cathay Building, home to Singapore's first air-conditioned cinema in 1939, and the House of Tan Yeok Nee - completed in 1885 and the last remaining Teochew mansion in Singapore - in Dhoby Ghaut.

Other sites include Masjid Al-Falah, the Young Men's Christian Association, or YMCA, Goodwood Park Hotel and Emerald Hill.

To cater to different interests, NHB developed three shorter routes: Orchard Road's Historical Gems, Communities and Cemeteries, and From Orchard to Garden.

The public can download the trail brochure and map from NHB's website Roots.sg or pick it up from places such as the Singapore Visitor Centrein Emerald Hill.

The trail took 18 months to develop. It includes many personal memories and photographs from current and former residents.

Mr Alvin Tan, NHB's assistant chief executive (policy and community), said: "Stories allow the public to find out more about the people who've lived at these sites and the memories that these places evoke in them. It gives a deeper meaning to the trail - it's not just the history but also a sense of community."

Those who remember the "old" Orchard Road welcomed its history being featured. Long-time Emerald Hill resident Nicky Yeo, 60, said he remembers $1 "kok kok" noodles, and satay grilled on his doorstep as two of the many things he misses.

Mr Yeo, who grew up in the three-storey shophouse that his mother bought in 1939, said: "Before, there was always a lot of hawker food right outside the house, even at 1am. I also used to fly kites on the streets."

Former resident Ismail Kassim, 79, whose father served as postmaster at Tanglin Post Office in the 1950s, said the former Pavilion Cinema, across the road from Emerald Hill, was his favourite spot.

"Sometimes, I relive my childhood days by taking a walk down Orchard Road at night," he said.

Another former resident, Mr N. I. Narayan, 90, lived in the Dhoby Ghaut area in the 1940s.

He said: "The future is built on the past. Places will change but it's only when you grow older that you start to realise that memories are all that are left. For the average man, it's the roots that count."