• It is believed that the Mandarin term “梧槽尾” may have originated from the Hokkien term go cho bue, which refers to the area near the mouth of Rochor River. The character “尾” has the meaning of “river mouth”.
• The street’s English name changed several times over the years. It was Jalan Rochor in 1836, before becoming Market Road or Market Street in the 1840s and 1850s. In 1858, to avoid confusion with another Market Street in Raffles Place, it was renamed Crawford Street after Dr John Crawfurd, the second Resident of Singapore.
• In 1968, more than 20 porcelain merchants from the Porcelain Merchants Centre (colloquially known as “碗店口”) were displaced from their former home in the Clyde Terrace area by the Golden Mile development and initially moved to Java Road (colloquially known as “白塔巷”), before the Housing & Development Board assigned them a space on Crawford Street.
• In 1970, when these porcelain merchants moved to Crawford Street, it became the new “碗店口”.
• In the early days, the “梧槽尾” area was a busy location for unloading goods along Rochor River.

In Chinese dialect, the Crawford Street area was colloquially called “梧槽尾”. I guess it got this name because it was located at the end of Rochor River. (Lianhe Zaobao, 11/11/2017)

Charcoal imported into Singapore was unloaded at Rochor River. In 1927, the Singapore Charcoal Dealers Association set up its first clubhouse at Crawford Street, and later built a new clubhouse at Geylang Lorong 34.