Quarry Bay - History

History

During Colonial Hong Kong times, the Hakka stonemasons settled in the area after the British arrival.

The area was a bay where quarried rocks from the hillside for construction or building roads were transported by ship. The Chinese name Tsak Yue Chung (鰂魚涌) reveals it was a small stream where crucian carp (鰂魚) could be found. The English name was Arrow Fish Creek.

The original bay has disappeared since land reclamation has taken place, and is about 700m from the current coastline. The eastern part of the Quarry Bay, namely Quarry Point, was largely owned by Swire and thus many places and facilities are named after the company's Chinese name, Taikoo. The river originally flowed into the bay, however it was shut off from the sea with the construction of the Tai Koo Reservoir to supply fresh water to the Taikoo Dockyard, the Taikoo Sugar factory at Tong Chong Street (糖廠街), and later the Swire Coca-Cola factory at Greig Road (基利路) and Yau Man Street (佑民街). The upper course of the river was converted into a cement-paved catchwater, and the lower course is the present-day Quarry Bay Street (鰂魚涌街), with the original estuary near the Quarry Bay Street - King's Road junction.

In the mid-1980s, the hillside was converted into Kornhill apartment buildings, the reservoir into Mount Parker Lodge (康景花園) apartment buildings, and the Dockyard into Taikoo Shing. The Coca-cola factory is now apartment Kornville (康蕙花園), and Taikoo Sugar is now the Taikoo Place, a commercial hub.

Some buildings in the western part of Quarry Bay are named as "North Point something building", although they are across the custom limit of North Point at Man Hong Street / Healthy Street West.