What Was Hougang Before Hougang? | Aukang, Teochew Villages, Markets, Wells and Upper Serangoon Before the New Town

SINGAPORE / ESTATE HISTORY / HOUGANG

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By The Memory desk · Historical reference · Sources checked 7 October 2026

Before it was an HDB town, Hougang was Au Kang, a string of villages, plantations and shops along Upper Serangoon Road between the 5th and 7½ milestones. Its name is Teochew and Hokkien for “at the back of the river”, after its position behind Sungei Serangoon. Teochews were the largest group, but Hokkien, Hainanese, Eurasian and Malay communities lived along the same road, and by the 1920s it already had a Catholic church, a Taoist temple and a mosque.

Hougang history as a planned town is much shorter. By 1976 HDB had started building its first estate in the area, along Lorong Lew Lian, and in 1980 Au Kang became Hougang, the Mandarin pronunciation of the old name. Unusually for a north-eastern new town, several of the older landmarks still stand, which makes it one of the easier places in Singapore to read the pre-HDB suburb on the ground.

Hougang at a glance

Location	North-eastern Singapore, historically along Upper Serangoon Road from the 5th to the 7½ milestone
Old name	Au Kang, “at the back of the river” in Teochew and Hokkien
Before the town	Teochew-majority villages, coconut and rubber plantations, poultry, markets, churches, temples and a mosque
Oldest institutions	Catholic mission from 1852; Hougang Tou Mu Kung and Masjid Haji Yusoff, both 1921
New town	First HDB estate from 1976 at Lorong Lew Lian; renamed Hougang in 1980
Today	An HDB town of about 227,220 residents (2025)

Why is it called Hougang?

Au Kang, sometimes written Aukang, means “at the back of the river”, according to the National Heritage Board’s Hougang heritage trail, published in 2020. The river was Sungei Serangoon, and the name describes how the district sat behind it as seen from the water. When HDB renamed the area in 1980 it kept the old word but used its Mandarin pronunciation, Hougang, so the town’s name is a direct descendant of the village one.

The old Au Kang did not match today’s town boundary. It followed Upper Serangoon Road, and people described where they lived by milestone rather than by street number. The road ran on north to the fishing village of Kangkar, now Sengkang, and south towards Serangoon and the city; our histories of what Sengkang was before Sengkang and what Serangoon was before Serangoon pick up the story at either end.

1852 to the 1920s: a mission, a temple and a mosque on one road

The oldest organised institution in Au Kang is Catholic. In 1852 the Missions Étrangères de Paris sent Father Ambroise Maistre to Hougang, and in 1853 an attap chapel went up to serve a growing Teochew Catholic community. It was later rebuilt in brick, and the present neo-Gothic Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was completed in 1901, with transepts added in 1933. The church was gazetted a National Monument in 2005 and still holds a weekly Teochew mass. Holy Innocents’ High School, Montfort and CHIJ Our Lady of the Nativity all began on its grounds.

Taoist worship took shape at about the same time. In 1902 a devotee named Ong Choo Kee set up a home shrine to the Nine Emperor Gods at Lim Loh village. In 1919 Ong Chwee Tow donated land for a proper temple, and Hougang Tou Mu Kung was completed in 1921, making it the oldest temple to the Nine Emperor Gods in Singapore. It was built in the Hokkien style, but later renovations gave it gentler Teochew roof ridges, a change that tracks who lived around it. A permanent opera stage added in 1925 stood until 1998, and by the 1960s the festival procession went down to Sungei Serangoon.

Masjid Haji Yusoff was built in the same year, 1921, on land given by the Gujarati merchant Ahmad Mohamed Salleh Angullia, and served the Malay Muslim community nearby; one of the Malay villages, Kampong Haji Sirat, stood at Jansen Road. A madrasah on the grounds, Madrasah Al-Arabiah Al-Islamiah, taught about 40 pupils until a fire in 1982. Local Chinese residents called that stretch of road Sembahyang Tng, joining the Malay word for prayers to the Teochew and Hokkien word for a pavilion.

The 5th milestone: who lived on Upper Serangoon Road?

The heritage trail describes the area around the 5th milestone as a patchwork. Teochews were the majority, Hokkiens lived along Lorong Lew Lian, Hainanese along Lorong Ah Soo, which locals called Hai Lam Hng, and a Eurasian community and Malay villages occupied the stretch from Hillside Road to Simon Road. Each group had its own schools and places of worship, and they shared the shops and the market. Protestant churches arrived in the 1930s: Paya Lebar Methodist Church was founded in 1932, and St Paul’s Church bought its land in 1935 and opened in April 1936.

The land behind the road was farmed. The trail mentions chillies, coconut trees, poultry and other livestock, with coconut plantations and clusters of villages across much of the district and rubber around today’s Chuan Hoe Avenue. To the north lay the Punggol pig-farming belt, which reached into parts of today’s Hougang and closed when Singapore phased out pig farming around 1989 and 1990; some of those farmers were later rehoused in Hougang’s new flats. The story of that belt is in our history of what Punggol was before Punggol.

Wells, markets and hawkers before the HDB town

Water came from wells. In Somapah Village, near today’s Kovan, a large communal well gave its name to the surrounding area, Tua Jia Kar, Teochew for “foot of the big well”. The village and the original well are gone, but in 2005 a replica with a commemorative plaque was installed at Hougang Street 21.

Food came from markets. A new market was built at Simon Road in 1948; its site is now a condominium. In the 1950s a municipal market with hawker stalls opened at Lim Tua Tow, and until the 1990s itinerant hawkers crowded its grounds, known for fried carrot cake and Hokkien mee. Teck Chye Terrace, a row of shophouses built in 1928 by the businessman Lim Teck Chye, still stands near the old market area. At the far end of the same road stood the Kangkar wholesale fish market, until it moved to Punggol in the early 1980s. For how these markets worked, see our history of wet markets and morning shopping.

1976 to 2000: from Au Kang to Hougang new town

The new town came in stages. By 1976 HDB had begun the first estate, along Lorong Lew Lian, and in 1980 the district was renamed Hougang. Wikipedia’s summary of the town’s development has Neighbourhoods 1 to 3 finished by 1983, Neighbourhoods 4 to 7 by 1992, the town centre in Neighbourhood 8 in 1994 and Neighbourhood 9 in 2000. Kampongs were cleared as each phase went up.

HDB also tried to give the blocks character. Block 316 was painted with a sweeping rainbow mural that became a Hougang landmark, and Block 25 with a bright sky. The new town collected some national firsts along the way: in 1984 a McDonald’s opened in the town centre, the first fast-food restaurant in an HDB estate, and in 1986 the Striker’s Bowl, a $4 million centre with 26 lanes, became the first bowling alley in one. Hougang and Kovan stations opened on the North East Line in 2003. The shopping story of the town centre is told in our history of Hougang Mall and Hougang Central, and the wider pattern in how heartland shopping grew.

This is our reading rather than a documented fact, but Hougang kept more of its past than most new towns because its anchors were institutions rather than houses. A church, a temple and a mosque could be rebuilt or extended on their own sites, while timber kampong homes could not, so the buildings that survived are the ones congregations kept using.

Seeing old Au Kang today

As of October 2026, a walk along Upper Serangoon Road between Kovan and Hougang covers most of what survives. The Church of the Nativity, Hougang Tou Mu Kung and Masjid Haji Yusoff are all active places of worship, so visit respectfully and outside service times if you only want to look. Teck Chye Terrace and the Tua Jia Kar replica at Hougang Street 21 are a short walk from Kovan station, and the Rainbow Block at Block 316 is in the HDB estate to the north. The National Heritage Board’s trail booklet has maps of three themed routes.

A Hougang history timeline

• 1852: Father Ambroise Maistre of the Missions Étrangères de Paris arrives in Hougang.
• 1853: An attap chapel is built for the Teochew Catholic community.
• 1901: The present Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is completed.
• 1902: Ong Choo Kee sets up a Nine Emperor Gods home shrine at Lim Loh village.
• 1921: Hougang Tou Mu Kung and Masjid Haji Yusoff are completed.
• 1925: A permanent opera stage is built at Tou Mu Kung.
• 1928: Lim Teck Chye builds Teck Chye Terrace.
• 1932 and 1936: Paya Lebar Methodist Church is founded; St Paul’s Church opens.
• 1948: A new market is built at Simon Road.
• 1950s: A municipal market with hawker stalls opens at Lim Tua Tow.
• 1976: HDB begins its first estate, along Lorong Lew Lian.
• 1980: Au Kang is renamed Hougang.
• 1984: McDonald’s opens in the town centre, a first for an HDB estate.
• 1998: Tou Mu Kung’s permanent opera stage is demolished.
• 2005: The Church of the Nativity becomes a National Monument; the Tua Jia Kar replica well is installed.

Questions people ask

What does Hougang mean?

It is the Mandarin pronunciation of Au Kang, Teochew and Hokkien for “at the back of the river”, referring to Sungei Serangoon. The area was officially renamed Hougang in 1980.

Why are there so many Teochews in Hougang?

Teochew settlers were the majority in Au Kang well before the HDB town. The Catholic mission founded in 1852 built a strong Teochew congregation, and the church still holds a weekly Teochew mass.

What is the oldest building in Hougang?

The present Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, completed in 1901, is the oldest surviving landmark and a National Monument. Hougang Tou Mu Kung and Masjid Haji Yusoff both date from 1921.

What was Tua Jia Kar?

The local name for the area around Somapah Village, near today’s Kovan, meaning “foot of the big well” in Teochew. A replica of the communal well stands at Hougang Street 21.

When was Hougang new town built?

HDB began the first estate by 1976 along Lorong Lew Lian. The town was built in phases through the 1980s and 1990s, with the last neighbourhood finished in 2000.

Sources and further reading

• National Heritage Board: Hougang Heritage Trail booklet (2020)
• National Heritage Board, Roots: Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• National Heritage Board, Roots: 5th Milestone
• National Library Board, BiblioAsia: Sengkang, From Fisheries Port to Integrated Town (2026), for Kangkar
• Wikipedia: Hougang (for HDB phase dates and population)

This is a historical reference: dates come from the sources above, and places of worship set their own visiting arrangements. Read next: What was Serangoon before Serangoon · What was Sengkang before Sengkang · Back to The Memory