Blake Garden also known as Blake Gardens, is a small urban park in Sheung Wan

Sheung Wan

Sheung Wan is an area in Hong Kong, located in the north-west of Hong Kong Island, between Central and Sai Ying Pun. Administratively, it is part of the Central and Western District...

 on Hong Kong Island

Hong Kong Island

Hong Kong Island is an island in the southern part of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km², as of 2008...

. The park is named after Sir Henry Arthur Blake

Henry Arthur Blake

Sir Henry Arthur Blake GCMG, DL was a British colonial administrator, Governor of Hong Kong from 1898 to 1903.-Early life and career:...

, a former British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Governor of Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

.

Historic background

In 1894, the bubonic plague

Bubonic plague

Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...

 broke out in Hong Kong. Because of the dense population and deplorable sanitary condition, Tai Ping Shan

Tai Ping Shan Street

Tai Ping Shan Street is a street marking the early colonial history in Hong Kong. Located at the north slope of Victoria Peak in Sheung Wan, the street starts east from a ladder street at the junction with Bridges Street and end west in Po Yan Street near Tung Wah Hospital...

 area was the most plague-stricken place. Hence, the buildings in the area was bought and demolished by the Government. The area worst affected by the plague was redeveloped. Blake Gardens and the Old Pathological Institute (now Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences

Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences

The Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences was established in 1996, and is located in a renovated 3-storey Edwardian-style building, at 2 Caine Lane at the Mid-levels, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong...

) were built here.

In the garden there is plaque commemorating the outbreak of the bubonic plague in 1894.

See also

• List of urban public parks and gardens in Hong Kong
• Description on the plague outbreak in History of Colonial Hong Kong.