A fishing village when it was first identified, Tanjong Pagar had, by the 1830s, extensive nutmeg plantations with estates named after European owners such as Duxton, Spottiswoode, Everton, Raeburn and Guthrie. The last-named 12-hectare (31-acre) nutmeg plantation was called Guthrie’s Village, seen in this photograph. These plantations later made way for the development of docking and wharfing facilities from the early 1860s onwards. With the advent of steamships in early 1860s and the growth of shipping with the opening of the Suez Canal, wharves were built by the privately owned Tanjong Pagar Dock Company and the New Harbour Dock Company. The Victoria and Albert Docks, owned by the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company, are seen in the background, a sign of massive changes to come. Tanjong Pagar Road became one of the main thoroughfares for the transportation of goods between the docks and the godowns along the Singapore River.
