Lavender Street is part of a 1-way Jalan Besar Road. In the early 19th century, this as yet-unnamed street was a dirt-track, flanked by Chinese vegetable gardens and sugar plantations.The name Lavender Street was suggested in 1858 by residents of the area as an ironic tongue-in-cheek reference to the unbearable smell from the many Chinese-operated vegetable gardens in the area. The farmers used nightsoil (human excreta from latrines contained in buckets) as fertilizers and eventually the Municipality actually formalized the name for the area as early as 1858. The Chinese name for the street is chai hng lai (meaning "inside vegetable gardens") which is a reminder of its past use. On the other hand, the Tamil name for Lavender Street is kosa theruvu (meaning potter's street).
Older residents recall the presence of swill collectors who frequented this area to collect leftover food from houses, which would then be mixed together with plants such as water-hyacinth which grew abundantly in the Kallang River. This swill would then be fed to pigs. These activities added to the smell of the area.
There are many engineering workshops operated by the Chinese along Lavender Street and also along Kallang Road. The concentration of engineering firms, factories and car repair workshops could be due to the expansion of the manufacturing industries in the area. As the number of factories increased, other complementary industries and services for equipment and machine maintenance would naturally increase as well. Over time, this resulted in the growth and surge of engineering firms in the area.