STORY 1
Evolution of the Padang

The 1843 and 1890 reclamation enlarged the Padang. In 1922, a new park with memorials was created, and was later expanded in 1941. The 1969 Marina Centre reclamation provided provisions for a new waterfront district.

1819
Bute Map of 1819, the earliest landward map of Singapore a few months after the British landed.

1846
The Padang, then called Esplanade after its first reclamation.

1893
Marked the second expansion outwards into the seafront, and the erection of the original Raffles’ statue in the middle of Padang.

1954
11 years before independence, the first Street Directory curiously indicates ‘Approximate Shoreline 1843’.

2021
The fully developed Marina Centre reclamation scheme is now a hotel and convention cluster. Any trace of the original shoreline has now entirely vanished.