From this National Heritage Board's information board at the corner of Amoy St and Cross St, there is this information about the origin of Pearl's Hill School.
Pearl's Hill School began in 1876 at Cross St as the Singapore Chinese Branch School, headed by Mr. E.T. Yzelman as its first Principal. The school was among the pioneer batch of government English schools set up by the colonial government. It served as a feeder school to Raffles Institution and other government-aided English secondary schools.
In 1883, the school was renamed Cross Street School. It shifted to 
Upper Cross St in 1889. Due to public housing development, the school moved to Pearl's Hill Road in 1914, next to the Police Quarters, and was renamed Pearl's Hill School. It was later relocated to a 12-storey building at Chin Swee Rd in 1971. It became known as the tallest school in Singapore. The school was officially declared open by the then Minister for Finance and Member for Parliament for Havelock Constituency, Mr. Hon Sui Seng, on 2 June 1972.In its long illustrious history, Pearl's Hill School served the
educational needs of the residents in Chinatown. It was a popular school throughout the 1970s and nurtured many prominent old boys including a President (Dr. Wee Kim Wee), a High Court Judge (Mr. Choor Singh) and a Cabinet Minister (Dr. Yeo Ning Hong).
The school ceased operations in its Pearl's Hill site on 31 December 2001.
Today, the Cross Street School building is Hotel81. The school next to the Police Quarters and the multi-storey school has become hostels.
Ack: National Heritage Board
Dear Chinatownboy. I enjoy reading your well-researched posts about Chinatown. I too have a blog where we reminisce about the good old days. My old friend who grew up in Chinatown has contributed a no. of articles about interesting places like Sago Lane and Sago St. Pls do drop by and meet the guys.
ReplyDelete