Year 1937

Ex-Warlord From China At Haw Par Villa

Wednesday, 22nd September 1937

General Chan Chai Tong, who is returning to China was entertained to a special dinner at Haw Par Villa. The Ex-Warlord from Kwantung (China) was treated to a 12-course Chinese dinner along with 30 rich merchants. Also present was Dr. Lim Boon Keng who until recently was a principal of Amoy University. Dinner was served on the floodlit lawn, but after the fourth course, there was a rush for the villa when it started to rain. Millionaire brothers, Messrs. Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par was also celebrating the "House Warming" of their new Haw Par Villa which was located on a small hill along Pasir Panjang Road.


Amelia Earhart In Singapore

Monday, 21st June 1937

Miss Amelia Earhart, 40-year-old American aviation pioneer, and her navigator Mr Fred Noonan left at 6:15am for Bandung (Java, Indonesia) from Kallang Airport in her plane named "Electra" to continue their 1937 Round The World Flight.


Singapore's first civil airport opened

Saturday, 12th June 1937

The Kallang Airport, also known as the Kallang Aerodrome, Kallang Airfield and RAF Kallang, opened on 1937 as Singapore's first purpose-built civil airport, together with an anchorage for seaplanes. Land was reclaimed in the Kallang Basin to turn the swampy area into a cicular-shaped airfield and to build a slipway for the seaplanes.


Changi Prison Opens

Monday, 4th January 1937

Changi Prison is the last prison built by the British in Singapore. Changi Prison, a maximum security prison, was built and operationalised in 1936.  “It is hoped that in due course this Prison may become a training ground for the misfits of society, rather than a purely penal institution.” – OC Hancock, Inspector of Prisons of the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States, at the opening of Changi Prison on 4 January 1937. With this, a new philosophy of reform and rehabilitation was promulgated.