Nanyang Girls’ High School’s move to Linden Drive became more than a change of address. On 6 June 1999, its community marked the transition with the event remembered as the Walk of Ten Thousand. The school’s chronology separates that occasion from the new campus’s official opening in 2000—a small distinction that makes this Bukit Timah story much clearer.
Choose your reading route
A school move became a shared occasion · Why 1999 and 2000 both matter · The façade belongs to a longer architectural story · Exploring the story without entering the school
1. A school move became a shared occasion
The school’s official milestones record the 6 June 1999 walk being flagged off by alumna and First Lady Mrs Ong Teng Cheong. Its route included King’s Road, Coronation Road, Duchess Road, Bukit Timah Road, Dunearn Road and Linden Drive, among other roads. Read Nanyang’s 1999 milestone.
This is an unusually tangible way to understand a campus move. Instead of imagining only furniture, boxes and new classrooms, we can picture a community marking the change through the neighbourhood’s streets.
The event’s familiar name is a commemorative title. It should not be used by itself as a verified attendance count. The route and date are documented details; an exact headcount would be a separate question.
Nor is the historical route a ready-made walking itinerary for today. Traffic arrangements, pedestrian access and conditions can change. Its value here is as evidence of how the move was marked, not as instructions to retrace a procession.
2. Why 1999 and 2000 both matter
Nanyang’s milestones place the move and establishment of its boarding school in 1999. The next year’s entry records the official opening of the Linden Drive campus and boarding school by Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew on 26 August 2000. Compare the adjacent 1999 and 2000 entries.
A move and an opening ceremony do different jobs. One changes where people go for their daily work; the other publicly marks an institutional milestone. They may happen close together, but they need not share a date.
This is why a school building can acquire several legitimate dates in a short history. Construction, occupation, a community celebration and official opening can each be worth recording. The solution is not to choose one and erase the others, but to say what happened in each year.
For an alumnus describing memories, the same precision helps. “I was there for the move” and “I attended the official opening” may refer to different occasions, even though both memories belong to the same new-campus chapter.
3. The façade belongs to a longer architectural story
The school’s architecture page describes the Bukit Timah façade through pink-brick walls, columns arranged symmetrically and a prominent clock tower. It also traces the school’s beginnings to 1917 at Dhoby Ghaut, well before the Linden Drive campus. Explore Nanyang’s architecture page.
That makes the façade a later expression of an older institution. A present-day landmark can feel inseparable from a school’s identity even when earlier generations learned somewhere quite different.
Our Ling Siew May and Nanyang campus feature explores the alumna’s design connection. This companion guide concentrates on the relocation itself: the sequence that brought people into the new setting.
When comparing old and new photographs, look beyond whether the buildings resemble each other. Ask what the photographs show about gathering, arrival and shared space. A school community carries routines and relationships into a new campus, not merely its name.
4. Exploring the story without entering the school
The current official contact page identifies Nanyang Girls’ High School at 2 Linden Drive. Use the school’s contact information for a genuine appointment or enquiry; a historical address or procession route is not a substitute for current directions.
This remains a working school. Do not enter to inspect architecture without permission, and do not assume that a school event mentioned online is open to visitors. Published images and the school’s heritage pages provide a useful alternative.
If a family member remembers the 1999 move, ask about one concrete part of the day: the starting point, the journey or arriving at the new campus. Keep that recollection distinct from details established by the official timeline.
The Walk of Ten Thousand gives Bukit Timah history a human scale. It reminds us that a campus changes the neighbourhood not only when construction finishes, but when a community begins moving through it.