Tanjong Rhu Road

Tanjong Rhu Road is named after the Malay words Tanjong (English for cape) and rhu (based on pokok rhu, where rhu refers to the casuarina littoria species of casuarina tree). Whilst it is unknown when the road was named Tanjong Rhu Road, it is known that the earliest source in which name appears is Emanuel Godiho de Erédia's 1604 map of Singapore, titled, Discripsao chorographica dos Estreitos de Sincapura e Sabbam, ano 1604, which refers to the area as Tanion Ru.{{Cite web |last=Thulaja |first=Naidu Ratnala |date=24 January 2018 |title=Tanjong Rhu Road |url=https://www.nlb.gov.sg/main/article-detail?cmsuuid=1630bd3a-58ef-4bb2-a859-cd4837f22a1f |access-date=1 August 2024 |website=National Library Board}}{{cite web |url= https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/vol-11/issue-4/jan-mar-2016/portuguese-map-sincapura-janssen/|title= A Portuguese Map of Sincapura|last= |first= |date= 22 January 2016|website= BiblioAsia|publisher= National Library Board|access-date= 3 August 2024|quote=}} Colonial maps of Singapore in the first half of the 19th-century referred to the area as Sandy Point, which was gradually replaced by Tanjong Rhu. The "Rhu" in Tanjong Rhu likely referred to the abundance of casuarina trees in the area.{{cite journal |last= Perono Cacciafoco|first= Francesco|year=2020 |title=SINGAPORE'S PRE-COLONIAL PLACE NAMES: A PHILOLOGICAL RECONSTRUCTION DEVELOPED THROUGH THE ANALYSIS OF HISTORICAL MAPS|url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346975186|journal= Review of Historical Geography and Toponomastics|volume= 15|issue= 29–30|pages= 79–120|doi= |access-date=}}

File:Tanjong Rhu shipyard in 1932.png

In 1828, as a part of the Jackson Plan, Sir Stamford Raffles intended for Tanjong Rhu to be a shipyard. Prior to the publication of the map, William Flint (who was a "[pioneer] of the shipbuilding business") decided to start a shipbuilding company in Tanjong Rhu in 1822. George Lyons and his brother also set up a shipyard in the 1850s. By the early 20th century, Tanjong Rhu became a venerable shipbuilding hub with many known companies having shipyards there such as Thornycroft{{Cite news |date=13 April 1927 |title=Page 14 Advertisements Column 2 |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/singfreepressb19270413-1.2.73.2 |access-date=2 August 2024 |work=The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser |page=14 |type=Advertisement}} and United Engineers as well as having clients such as the Singaporean Marine Police Force and the Ceylon Navy. As a matter of fact, bugis traders from celebes used to anchor their mosquito boats in the Kallang Basin by Tanjong Rhu for trade from the 19th century to the early 1960's before docking to the Telok Ayer Basin. In February 1977, government ordered for the Kallang Basin (including the Tanjong Rhu shipyard) to be cleaned up since it was polluted.{{Cite news |date=25 June 1987 |title=Key dates in the Kallang Basin and Singapore River clean-up |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19870625-1.2.56.7 |access-date=3 August 2024 |work=The Straits Times |page=3 |type=News Article}} This resulted in only five shipyards remaining as they complied with the government's prerequisite of upgrading their facilities as well as complying with pollution regulations by 29 June 1985. Additionally, the coffin-makers, firewood and charcoal dealers, godowns, rubber and sawmills, and squatters in Kampong Arang (near Tanjong Rhu Shipyard) were phased out by 1982, with them receiving compensation following recent appeals to the Singapore Land Authority.{{Cite news |date=29 June 1985 |title='Shape up or ship out' |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19850629-1.2.24.1 |access-date=3 August 2024 |work=The Straits Times |page=12 |type=News article}} By January 1987, the charcoal and firewood dealers moved Lorong Halus at the mouth of the Serangoon River whilst the rest (except for the squatters) were moved to factories with proper apparatus for their respective skill trade.

Tanjong Rhu Road is a minor arterial road starting from Rhu Cross (a local access road) and ending at a junction with Meyer Road and Fort Road.{{Cite web |title=OneMap |url=http://www.onemap.gov.sg/ |access-date=2 August 2024 |website=OneMap |publisher=Singapore Land Authority (SLA) |type=Map}} It is estimated to be 2.56km long due to the road having a loop and a one-way access road, both with the name 'Tanjong Rhu Road'.{{Cite web |title=Tanjong Rhu Road |url=https://sg.geoview.info/tanjong_rhu_road,22930507w |access-date=3 August 2024 |website=Geoview.info}} It runs parallel with the East Coast Parkway (ECP) whilst a section of the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) runs underneath Tanjong Rhu Road.{{Cite book |url=https://catalogue.nlb.gov.sg/search/card?recordId=11110655 |title=Mighty Minds Singapore street directory. |publisher=Mighty Minds Publications |publication-date=2004 |page=112 |language=en |type=CD-ROM}}

File:Camelot by the Bay,Tanjong Rhu (8148366160).jpg

File:Casuarina Cove, Tanjong Rhu (8157689712).jpg

File:Dunman High School Zhengxinyuan, January 2023.jpg

File:Pebble Bay at Tanjong Rhu (8150633219).jpg

File:(SGP-Singapore) Tanjong Rhu MRT Station Exit 1 2024-06-23.jpg

The following is a list of landmarks that are on or are in close proximity to Tanjong Rhu Road:

• Camelot
• Casuarina Cove
• Dunman High School
• Fort Road
• Fortredale, a 19-storey condominium which stood at the junction of Tanjong Rhu Road and Fort Road. Architect and academic Robert Powell wrote in 2000 that the "eye-catching" tower block "stands apart for its strongly individualistic expression." He further wrote that it "exudes confidence and defiance of convention" and "struts its stuff along Tanjong Rhu Road while its neighbours look, in comparison, aesthetically geriatric."{{cite book|title= Singapore: Architecture of a Global City|pages= 182–183|isbn= 9814068055|access-date=|last= Powell|first= Robert|publisher= Archipelago Books|year=2000|url=}}
• Katong Park MRT station (Exit 2)
• Meyer Road
• Pebble Bay
• Singapore Swimming Club
• Pebble Bay
• Tanjong Rhu Bridge
• Tanjong Rhu MRT station (Exit 1)

{{Reflist}}

Category:Roads in Singapore