Have you ever wondered why a street was given a particular name? In early Singapore, the Municipal Councillors or Commissioners were in charge of naming the streets. Streets were commonly named after prominent people, usually as a mark of appreciation for their contributions or service to the community, society or state. Behind the street names are stories about the people they were named after, their lives and achievements and the part they played in making Singapore what it is today.

The National Library receives quite a lot of enquiries on the origin of street names and so it was timely that the National Library put up an exhibition on street names on 25 Oct 2008, entitled “Behind Streets Names: Prominent People of Early Singapore”, which runs till 15 March 2009. Nine street names were chosen based on the availability of the legal documents of well-known trading and landed families and early pioneers of Singapore from the Koh Seow Chuan Donor’s Collection. Examples of such legal documents are the Power of Attorney relating to the Alkaff family’s business (dated 26 Jan 1924) and the Tan Kim Seng’s Will and Testament dated 17 Dec 1863.

The National Library decided to have this exhibition to fulfill one of its functions as the national memory and repository of Singapore’s heritage materials in all formats. It is hoped that through this exhibition more Singaporeans will be encouraged to donate their heritage collections to the National Library.

The nine street names featuring the prominent people represent the different ethnic communities. They are:

• Alkaff Avenue
• D’Almeida Street
• Chitty Road
• Eu Tong Sen Street
• Kim Seng Road
• Jalan Tan Tock Seng
• Whampoa Road
• Jiak Kim Street
• Nee Soon Road

Visitors to the exhibition would learn about the social history of early Singapore and come away appreciating the roles and contributions made by our Singapore pioneers. Through the examples of these prominent people’s act of philanthropy and benevolence, we hope Singaporeans may be inspired themselves to give generously to society for future generations.

About Mr Koh Seow Chuan

Mr Koh Seow Chuan is an architect and retired founder of DP Architects, which is the
firm that designed the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay. He is NLB’s Distinguished Reader and currently the Chairman of the Singapore Art Gallery Project.

He is also a world-renowned stamp collector and an avid collector of social- historical documents, maps, antique books and art. His Donor collection serves as one of the sources for those researching on the social history of Singapore, particularly in the 19th and early 20th century.

By Azizah Sidek, Principal Librarian, Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, National Library Board, Singapore