1889: Singapore Gets a New Bridge

April 18, 1889

The original version of Read Bridge in Singapore first went into service. Construction on this bridge began in 1881 and it was built across the part of the Singapore River that is within the area known as Clarke Quay. At the time of Read Bridge’s debut, Singapore was one of the British territories in Southeast Asia that were grouped together as the Straits Settlements.

Cecil Clementi Smith (1840-1916), who was governor of the Straits Settlements from 1887 to 1893, officially opened Read Bridge on that Thursday in 1889. The bridge was named after Scottish-born William Henry Macleod Read (1819-1909), a local merchant who had long been extensively involved in Singapore’s civic activities.

Read Bridge, which is used by pedestrians and bicyclists, was rebuilt during the early 1990s. The accompanying photo of the current version of this bridge was taken in 2006.

Photo Credit: Terence Ong (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)

For more information on Read Bridge, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read_Bridge