History
1830
Orchard Road had its humble origins as an unnamed country road lined with fruit orchards, nutmeg plantations, and pepper farms.
1845
72 acres of land on Orchard Road was purchased and used as a cemetery called Tie Swah Ting
(泰山亭) which also contained a temple.
1850
The plantations began to make way for residential developments, and the street also became home to Jewish and Buddhist cemeteries, Hindu temples, outdoor hawker centres, wet markets, and even an open-air laundry basin.
1900
The first signs of retail transformation along Orchard Road came only in 1903 with the establishment of Singapore's very first Cold Storage supermarket, on the site now occupied by The Centrepoint.
Orchard Road's first department store was set up by a local merchant, C. K. Tang, in 1958 on an isolated plot of land facing a cemetery.
Demolished in 1982, it was replaced by the
high-rise Tang Plaza which houses both the department store TANGS as well as the current Marriott Hotel.
1985
There was a park situated above Orchard MRT station which featured an 11.5m diameter glass dome. This park, named "Gulong Park" (Tagalog for wheel), used to be where foreign workers would hangout on their off days.
Before ION Orchard was built, Filipino helpers gathered at this busy junction on Orchard Road and held picnics on the grass patch.
2006
Construction of ION Orchard began and was led by Orchard Turn Developments Ptd Ltd.
This resulted in the migrant workers moving to Lucky Plaza, crowding the mall in big numbers such that “Sunday is Filipino Day”.
2009
In 2009, construction was completed and on
21 July, ION Orchard was officially opened for business. Since then, it has won many awards and is recognised as one of the top malls
in Singapore.
“Re-energising Orchard With An ION"
Gentrification is the process of renovating and improving a district so that it conforms to middle-class tastes. The Orchard Road shopping belt is lined with malls with rich histories and the development of ION is a modern upgrade that refreshes Orchard Road.