The Bangrak Museum – recalling the days of canals and windmills

The Bangrak Museum
recalling the days of canals
and windmills

The Bangrak Museum, collocated with the Folk Museum in Soi Charoen Krung 43, records the history of early Bangkok in the Bangrak district. The district got its name from the huge Rak tree trunk sunken in one of the canals in the area.

Several interesting aspects of Bangkok's history (1800s – 1900s) are covered in the Bangrak Museum:

The early foreign communities and their influence in the area,The growth of trade and financial activities,The roads and canals in the area and the people who contributed to the construction.

Over two centuries, Bangkok grew from a fortified city to a commercial port and onto an urban industrialized metropolis.

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in Thailand in the Ayutthaya days. Their embassy is the oldest in Bangkok, located in Charoen Krung, the oldest road. Bangkok grew quickly as a trading port with traders from Portugal, Holland, Britain, India and China.

Most of the foreign communities were in Bangrak. As Bangkok grew out of the walled city, it became a cultural melting pot for Thais, Chinese, Mon, Lao, Indians, Europeans and Americans.

When the Bowring Treaty was signed in 1855 in the reign of King Rama IV, trade in Bangkok opened up. Foreigners were granted the right to trade directly, hitherto a royal monopoly. Trading companies were setup together banks, warehouses and factories.

With the foreign traders came the missionaries. In the prevailing religious tolerance, churches, temples, mosques, schools, convents and hospitals were built with land grants. Retail shops grew to support the trading activities. The first printing press in Thai started in Bangrak.

As trade grew, so did the need for transportation. Roads and canals expanded rapidly, with trams and the first railway, the Bangkok - Paknam line.

Canals played a vital role in bringing rice and other produce from the provinces to Bangkok.

The Bangrak Museum has an interesting record of the origins of the early roads and canals.

Charoen Krung Road the first road built in 1861 became the commercial hub of Bangkok with foreign trading houses, banks and hotels. One of the early hotels was the Oriental Hotel built in 1876.

Silom, Sathon, Si Phraya and Surawongse were four parallel roads extending eastwards from the Chao Phraya. These roads were built by excavating a canal in the middle to allow for canal and land movement.

Silom or windmill was named after the windmills in the area used to draw water from the canals to water the vast orchards. Today, the only windmill left is the one at the junction of Silom Road and Narathiwat Road.

The last of the windmills in Silom

Some of the roads were named after royal titles awarded to people who contributed to the construction. These titles were often adopted as the family names of the holders.

Si Phraya Road was named after the Four Phrayas or noblemen, a name given by King Rama V.

Sathon today, less the bullock carts, canal boats and vintage Fords

Luang Sathon Rachayutt was a title awarded to a Chinese immigrant who dug Sathon canal and built Sathon Road where many embassies are located today. An old photograph of Sathon Road with its canal is preserved in the Bangrak Museum.

Chao Phraya Surawongse Wattanasak gave his name to Surawongse Road. Decho Road got its name from Phraya Siharaj Decho.

Another interesting aspect recorded in the Bangrak Museum is the origins of the well-known Patpong area, named after Luang Patpong Panich, a Chinese immigrant who married into a rich local family.

The family estate is now the Patpong entertainment area. The regal origins of the name is somewhat overshadowed by the area's raunchy image.

The Saladaeng or red roof pavilion area was named after the train station built by the Danish company. In 1925, King Rama VI donated a large tract of Saladaeng for a public park, Lumpini Park.

The Dusit Thani Hotel stands on the grounds of a nobleman's mansion in old Saladaeng.

In the early 1960s, the canals along Silom, Sathon, Surawongse and Si Phraya were covered up for road expansion. Today the roads and institutions in Bangrak are still there, a legacy of the early immigrants and communities in Bangkok.

But all that's left of the canals, orchards and windmills in Bangrak are in the Bangrak Museum except for the last windmill in Silom Road. While you're there, visit the Folk Museum as well. The map to the Folk Museum will also show the location of the Bangrak Museum.

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