Orchard Road

Orchard Road, often known colloquially as simply Orchard, is a major 2.5 km (1.6 mi)-long road in the Central Area of Singapore. A famous tourist attraction, it is an upscale shopping area, with numerous department stores, shopping malls, restaurants, and coffeehouses located in its vicinity. It has been described as a popular hotspot in Singapore, especially at night, attracting urban youth.

The Orchard Planning Area is a planning area as specified by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. It is part of the Central Area located within the Central Region. Orchard is bordered by Newton in the east and north, Tanglin in the west, River Valley in the south and Museum to the southeast. It consists of three subzones, Orchard, Somerset and Tanglin (not to be confused with its neighbouring planning area).

Orchard Road got its name from the nutmeg, pepper, and fruit orchards or plantations that the road once led to. Such plantations were common in the area in the 19th century. Previously, it was known in Hokkien as "Tang Leng Pa Sat Koi" (simplified Chinese: 东陵巴刹街; traditional Chinese: 東陵巴剎街; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tang-lêng Pa-sat-koe; lit. 'Tanglin Market Street'), and in Tamil, it was known as "Vairakimadam" (Tamil: வயிராகி மடம், romanized: Vayirāki maṭam, lit. 'Fakir's place') inside town limits and "Māttu Than" (மேட்டு தான், Mēṭṭu tāṉ, 'High Ground') from Koek's Market to Upper Tanglin.

After more than a century as a two-way thoroughfare, Orchard Road became a one-way street east of Scotts Road in 1974. and entirely in 1977 when Orchard Boulevard was completed. Orchard Road starts at the junction with Orange Grove Road, which is the location of the Orchard Hotel. It then stretches southeast across the Scotts Road–Paterson Hill junction, Orchard MRT station, Bideford Road, Somerset MRT station, Central Expressway, Dhoby Ghaut MRT station, and ends at the junction with Handy Road (just before Prinsep Street), where it becomes Bras Basah Road. It has extensive underground infrastructure, including underground pedestrian walkways between the malls running underneath the street and other streets in the vicinity. The numbers begin at Handy Road and end at Orange Grove Road.

Orchard Road was already cut in the 1830s, though the new road was not named in George Coleman's 1836 Map of Singapore. In the 1830s the Orchard Road area was the scene of gambier and pepper plantations. Later, nutmeg plantations and fruit orchards predominated, hence its name.

By 1846, the spread of houses had reached up to Tank Road. There were none on the left side and only three or four houses went past Tank Road on the right side of Orchard Road.

One major sight during this period was a Dr. Jun tending his garden, which helped endorse the road's name. He had a garden and plantation at the corner of what is now Scotts Road and Orchard Road.

Towards the later part of the 1840s, graveyards began to appear along the road. By 1846, the Chinese had a large graveyard around what is now the Hilton Singapore Orchard and Ngee Ann City, while the Sumatrans from Bencoolen had their burial ground where the current Hotel Grand Central stands. Later a Jewish cemetery was established; it was located where Dhoby Ghaut MRT station is now and was demolished in 1984.