Serangoon: History

11 January 2008

Serangoon Road
Serangoon Road extends from Selegie Road northwards to Sungei Serangoon. Serangoon Road is divided into 2 sections, with the latter part from Macpherson Road northwards called Upper Serangoon Road. For decades, Upper Serangoon Road is the main transportation spine serving Upper Serangoon, even up till today.

Besides Serangoon Road, other primary roads connecting Upper Serangoon to other locations were Yio Chu Kang Road and Upper Paya Lebar Road. These three roads were widened in the 1970s.

Upper Serangoon
From post World War II to the 1960s, Upper Serangoon was characterised by a spread of small kampong settlements, rubber plantations, fruit trees plantations, poultry farms and other agricultural activities. The kampongs have their own supply of well water whereas electricity supply was introduced to Serangoon North in the early 1960s.

The plantations were developed into Serangoon Garden Estate and Braddell Heights Estate in the 1950s. A large portion of Upper Serangoon was zoned for the development of Hougang New Town in 1979. The remaining kampongs and undeveloped land were developed into Serangoon New Town.

Serangoon New Town
Development of Serangoon New Town started in 1982 on resettled land scattered in the vicinity of Serangoon Garden, Braddell Heights and Bartley estates. Serangoon is the first of the miniature new town build by Housing & Development Board (HDB). Due to its small size, streets and avenues are not differentiated.

Serangoon New Town is planned into 4 distinct neighbourhoods, namely Serangoon North (Neighbourhood 1), Serangoon Central (Neighbourhood 2), Serangoon West (Neighbourhood 3) and Serangoon South (Neighbourhood 4). Because the town is physically straddles by Serangoon Garden Estate into 2 parts, the name Serangoon North is generally used to differentiate Neighbourhood 1 from the remaining neighbourhoods, which are collectively known as Serangoon Central.

Serangoon is easily identified by the extensive use of red-facing bricks and palm tree graphics on the walls of selected apartment blocks. Furthermore, specially designed apartment blocks with varied weights and forms are located at strategic points for easier orientation.

Serangoon New Town is relatively popular. Hence the town is extended with the addition of Neighbourhood 5 to the north of Neighbourhood 1.

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