Toa Payoh New town. The name Toa Payoh is derived from the Hokkien word for big (toa) and a corruption of the Malay word for swamp (paya). The area was originally a Malay kampong surrounded by vegetable farms. It was chosen in the 1960s by the Housing & Development Board (HDB) for development as the second new town after Queenstown, and the first new town with its own facilities such as a town garden, community plaza and library. Block 52 was the first block of flats in Toa Payoh, and was completed in August 1966.

With its own 19- storey viewing gallery, Toa Payoh became a showcase estate for public housing in Singapore. Various foreign dignitaries were brought to the estate, including Queen Elizabeth II, who visited in 1972 and again in 2006. The Toa Payoh Sports Stadium was constructed for the 7th Southeast Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games in 1973. The town also became a base for Singapore’s electronics industry from the 1960s onwards, with companies such as Philips Electronics Singapore setting up factories there.

The HDB moved its headquarters from Bukit Merah to Toa Payoh in 2002, around the same time that the country’s first 40- storey blocks were being built in the estate.