Bukit Timah Road runs roughly from the South to North across the island and is arguably the most important road in Singapore.The idea of cutting Bukit Timah Road was first considered in 1827 when John Prince, Acting Resident of the Straits Settlements, explored Bukit Timah in preparation for the cutting of a road.
One of the original purposes of this road was to allow access to the highest point on the island. In 1843, a carriageway was completed leading up to the hill where a small hut with chairs was available for colonial visitors who found the air cooler and fresher. By 1845, Bukit Timah Road was extended to as far as Kranji in the north. This, therefore, made the road one of the earliest roads leading out of town to the unexplored wilderness in the hinterlands and the longest road in Singapore from north to south.
The first people to travel from north to south of Singapore via Bukit Timah Road were J T Thomson and Dr Robert Little in 1855 who took a total of four days on horseback!
The opening of the road also provided the Chinese businessmen access to undeveloped land further in the interior of the island where they could clear and cultivate gambier and pepper plantations without paying for the land. However, working in these plantations in the 1800s was a dangerous occupation. By 1860, almost 200 plantation workers were reported killed by tigers that roamed the Bukit Timah area. In 1859, then Governor William Orfeur Cavenagh arranged for selected Indian convicts to patrol the area which resultantly killed six tigers in one year alone. The tigers were believed to have swum from Johor to Kranji and were sometimes seen entangled in the nets and fishing stakes of the kelongs.