Chiang Mai has developed continuously for over 700 years. But the city is now drastically changing. The beginning of its modern era started in the eastern part of town, from the banks of the Ping River along Charoen Mueang Road to Chiang Mai Railway Station. This area became the birthplace of various public utilities and facilities, forming the basic network for modern urban development, and has always been open to change from the outside world, starting with the arrival of the West and British teak cutting and trade concession companies. American missionaries first settled here in 1864, resulting in a variety of foreigners working and doing business within the Western community, which eventually became a dynamic community which has helped drive the societal economy of Chiang Mai to the present day.
San Pa Khoi and Wat Ket are considered important areas in the modern history of Chiang Mai, being at the heart of the city’s original developmental junction and center of the Lanna Kingdom, the traditional state and former kingdom under Ayutthaya or Siam. Due to changes effected from outside, Chiang Mai progressed to become the central city of the northern regional economy and society within the modern nation-state of Siam, later named Thailand. The modern history of Chiang Mai began in the area along the Ping River, in the San Pa Khoi and Wat Ket communities, which have drastically changed from past to present, divisible into 3 important periods.
Chiang Mai under the traditional Lanna and western colonial states: the origin of modern communities along the Ping River, 1864-1897
British and French colonization in Southeast Asia was an inevitable and key factor in the transformation of Chiang Mai, when the British seized Burma, including Shan Province which Lanna considered part of their empire, at the same time that France seized Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Teak was logged from the forests on the border between Burma and Lanna Kingdom territory. Teak from these forests had become a sought-after commodity in Europe, and so the British pushed Siam to manage the Lanna government regarding high-yield businesses, such as teak concession. The British Borneo Lumber Company, which took the logging concession from the UK, was formed from the timber business in neighboring countries, and entered Chiang Mai in 1864. Trade contracts increased, as well as disputes. This led to the 1st Chiang Mai Agreement (1873), which granted England and other Western nations extraterritorial rights in Lanna, who therefore accepted the responsibility from Siam to handle various disputes, along with the 2nd Agreement (1883) which appointed a governor from Siam to be stationed for tax collection and forest management. This became the main economic management authority given to Lanna royalty by officials in Bangkok, which expanded trade even further. These foreign companies, such as the British Borneo Bombay Burma Trading Corporation (who arrived in 1891) and Siam Forest, established offices in Chiang Mai within areas along the Ping River, especially on the eastern side of the Old City at the junction of Charoen Mueang Road and Nawarat Bridge, where the British Borneo Company and Missionary House was located. Later, in the year 1896, the Siamese government set up the Forest Department in Chiang Mai together with Mr. H. Slade, a British expert in India, to manage the system and clear forest concessions. The British Consulate was established between 1883-84 on the southwest bank of the Ping River in the area of Tha Pae Road, and in the following year the British Deputy Consul successfully established a postal system between Chiang Mai and Bangkok.
American missionaries began to spread Protestant and Presbyterian Christianity in 1867, led by Reverend Daniel McGilvary and his family, who named the project “Lao Mission” and established a permanent house on the east bank of the Ping River in 1875. Later, they established the first Christian Church and built a permanent house for new officers and pastors in the Wat Ket area. A school for girls was also built on the eastern riverbank one year later by the second wave of American missionaries. Dr. Marion Alphonso Cheek became representative of the British Borneo Company in 1884. Dr. Cheek built his own house and later the American Mission Hospital and Wang Sing Kham school for boys on the west side of the Ping River, along with a sawmill, mill, and shipyard on the opposite (east) side of the Ping River. He also constructed a teak bridge connecting the two banks and finally a printing house, all of which were completed between the years 1889-91. In addition to much faster wood production, Dr. Cheek brought machinery and electrical appliances to Chiang Mai for sale. It is safe to assume, therefore, that electrical infrastructure has existed in the San Pa Khoi and Wat Ket areas since at least 1887.[2] Therefore it can be assumed that There has definitely been electricity in the San Pa Khoi and Wat Ket areas since around 1887.
With increased stability of legal status, improved postal and telegraphic communication, presence of a port and steamers, transportation on the Ping River between Bangkok and the central region to Chiang Mai became far more convenient. The Western community grew to accommodate more businesses involved in forest logging and missionary work. The Chinese presence in the area, originally merchants from Yunnan who worked on the route for lords and nobles of the Old City, began to change. Chinese immigrants of various backgrounds migrated from Bangkok, the central and other regions to do business with merchants and American missionaries, along with a growing number of Siamese government officials gradually replacing the Sanam Luang system subsequent to the 2nd Chiang Mai Agreement, who established a county-style bureaucracy. In addition to the Chinese who came to trade, there remained groups of local people, both indigenous and Chinese, who settled the area due to the missionary support network, which included education and medical care. One individual was a Chinese baron from Lamphun, converted by Reverend McGilvary, who became a financial patron of the missionary group. He later moved to Chiang Mai, settled in the Wat Ket area and traded in the San Pa Khoi area. His next generation of descendants would become an important family in Chiang Mai. Missionaries also had connections with Chinese merchant groups who sailed goods from Bangkok and Moulmein.
The area of San Pa Khoi and Wat Ket became settled by a community comprised of three main groups: (1) Westerners and missionaries, (2) Chinese who traded with Western companies and missionaries, and (3) indigenous people from Chiang Mai who were converted by and/or worked for the missionaries and timber companies. The most prominent architecture consisted of teak houses and buildings in a Western style of mixed cement and wood, mingled with vernacular and wooden row-houses nestled together as rafts. Water provided the main routes for transportation, and so port and waterfront areas were important to the community.
Chiang Mai under Siam colonial state: formation of the San Pa Khoi community area, 1897-1932
In 1894, Chiang Mai and the five Lanna provinces, Lamphun, Lampang, Phrae, and Nan, were incorporated as part of Siam’s administrative system, naming the province Laos Chiang.
In 1899, Mueang Thoen was merged and renamed Payap Province. The impact of changes in the political and administrative structures at the regional and national levels under the framework of the modern nation-state are clearly visible in the changing physical condition of Chiang Mai. The Siamese governors appointed in the early years after the Chiang Mai Agreement possessed little power other than in judicial affairs. But it had been increasing steadily, whilst the governor’s power waned, through control of the forest concession business. Changes to the income tax and military conscription systems allowed the indigenous people, who once relied on local masters and lords, to become citizens of the modern Siamese state system, which began to take effect around 1878. Expansion of public utilities to accommodate central government officials allowed areas around the city with more independent communities to trade with larger sources of capital, foreign companies and agents, such as the Danish East Asiatic Company, French Consulate, American missionaries who spread Christianity to other cities, and civil servants from the central region. San Pa Khoi is one such community that developed out of these changes.
In 1898, the Gymkhana Club was established in the southern part of the community. The group, calling themselves “The Gentleman”, was comprised of British businessmen, American missionaries, and members of the Siamese and Lanna upper classes. It became a meeting place for the upper class and foreigners who worked in Chiang Mai, and was the first sports club in Siam. Land ownership was registered in the name of Phraya Song Suradet, Governor of Laos Chiang Province and club co-founder, who instated Pastor Harris as director. Registration of land ownership began in 1901. Also, during this year, a new ruler appointed by Bangkok, Chao Inthwarorot, assumed operation of the electrical system in Chiang Mai. Presumably, this is the same system that originated from the station at Ban Den Power Plant in the southern area of San Pa Khoi. In addition, the King allotted Wiang Kaew, in the center of the city, for use by the central government agency in lieu of the palace. Many central agencies thus relocated from the area along the west bank of the Ping River into the city.[4] It is assumed that this is the system that came from the station at the Ban Den Electricity Plant in the southern part of the San Pa Khoi area. In addition, the King also gave the Wiang Kaew area in the heart of the city to the central government agency to use instead of the palace. Many central agencies have therefore moved from the western Ping River area into the city.
However, there remained many problems caused by the changes to both the income tax and military conscription systems. For example, the outer areas of Chiang Mai and some parts of the Lanna border were subjected to duplicate taxes, until two major rebellions occurred, the Phaya Phap Rebellion in 1889 and Muang Phrae Rebellion in 1902, resulting in establishment of a central force to maintain order in 1903, named the Payap Army Command Department. Kawila Camp was established in the southern area of San Pa Khoi, extending to the Gymkhana Club and Ban Den Power Plant. The military camp, Gymkhana sports club, and Ban Den Power Plant became important sources of employment in the southern part of San Pa Khoi, and is now a significant green area.
The change in Lanna’s system of government to that of Siam’s Payap Province also affected the work of American missionaries. The original project name of “Lao Mission” later had to be changed to “North Siam Mission” in 1913. As the missionary school operation grew more successful, the number of students increased. However, the plots of land along the western and eastern banks of the Ping River were small, limiting expansion. Eventually, the missionaries relocated both the school for girls and Wang Sing Kham school for boys to a larger area in the east. Wang Sing Kham school for boys was re-established in an area covering over 90 rai, purchased from the British Borneo Company in 1905, including the surrounding area on Kaew Nawarat Road, and was renamed Prince Royal’s College.
The missionary school for girls, originally founded in 1878, was also expanded in the northern part of San Pa Khoi in 1921, with land purchased on Kaew Nawarat Road not far from Prince Royal’s College, and renamed Dara Wittayalai Academy. Both schools ceased teaching the local Lanna language and instead adopted the Central Thai language, with help from the Siamese government. In addition, the American Mission Hospital constructed by missionaries along the Ping River had developed to the point that it could conduct surgical operations, and re-opened as a medical school in 1916. It was relocated to the same area on Kaew Nawarat Road between Prince Royal’s College and Dara Academy in 1924 and renamed McCormick Hospital, after an important patron. The northern San Pa Khoi area thus became an important location for sources of employment, being home to a hospital and two large schools.
Also, between the years 1907-1917, a significant change occurred in the area. Important markets were established outside Chiang Mai’s city walls, namely Warorot Market and San Pa Khoi Market. While Warorot Market was built in 1910 on crematorium and royal cemetery land of the original governor group, San Pa Khoi Market is believed to have been built between 1920-1925 by an important property owner, Phra Phichit Osot, who had connections with a local ruler, Chao Kab Kaew Na Lamphun, who joint-invested with a high-ranking government official from Bangkok. This indicated the extent of economic expansion within the community and necessity for a place to trade and distribute products. Originally, this was a community market named Pra Lor Market. When a railway line was constructed between Bangkok and Chiang Mai, the market was developed and expanded by a group of Bangkok government officials and local bosses. When the railway line was completed and opened on 1st January 1921, with a station on the east side of the Ping River, connecting Chiang Mai Old City with Charoen Muang Road, which runs between Tha Phae and Warorot Markets, the market and San Pa Khoi area subsequently flourished, becoming an important trade area due to its location between the railway station, which brought goods from the central region to the main city market, and secondary settlements in the four main directions – east to San Kamphaeng District, northeast to Doi Saket District, north to Chiang Dao and Fang, and south to Lamphun City. At the same time, the area became important for collecting agricultural products within Chiang Mai for distribution to the central region and Bangkok. The area surrounding Charoen Mueang Road became filled with rows of shops and warehouses in the back alleys. The area east of San Pa Khoi, around the train station, developed drastically. A railway inn opened in 1926 – the first hotel in Chiang Mai – a large one-story teak building, and residence of King Prajadhipok during his visits to Chiang Mai. Adjacent was a colonial-style half-timbered building, home to Siam Commercial Bank’s Chiang Mai branch, the first bank in Chiang Mai and second provincial branch of SCB, which opened for business in 1927. Later, in 1931, the Provincial Electricity Authority opened a branch in Chiang Mai, the second PEA branch in the whole country, next to Nakhon Pathom in an area leased to Ban Den Power Plant by the local sanitation agency for expanded operations.
San Pa Khoi became a modernized area surrounded by important sources of employment, such as government offices, military camps, educational institutions, hospitals, markets, and sports clubs, as well as modern urban utilities and facilities such as ports, road networks, post offices, power plants, and railway stations. During this time, the community area changed with the arrival of trains, which allowed Chinese people from different regional areas in the country to trade and settle, effecting change in Chiang Mai’s economy from what was formerly based on trade mainly with Mawlamyine and (a little) with Bangkok, which was delivered by boat to Wat Ket Pier, into large-scale goods exchange with Bangkok. This was mainly due to the greater convenience, reliability, and tonnage of rail transport, as compared to ships which had difficulty operating during the dry season, for bringing modern consumer goods, including construction materials, from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and transporting agricultural products back to the central region and Bangkok. The central state encouraged agriculture to shift from subsistence farming to commercial production, necessitating storage facilities for large amounts of product awaiting distribution. Consequently, large warehouse-type buildings constructed from reinforced concrete began to appear after arrival of the train. Modern concrete buildings also became increasingly prevalent along Charoen Mueang Road leading to the train station, which were mostly used as commercial buildings. Most government venues constructed during this time were also modern concrete buildings, such as the former train station and Ban Den Power Plant. Western-style and American colonial-style buildings also appeared, such as the command building at Kawila Camp and the newly-constructed Prince Royal’s College and Dara Academy.
Chiang Mai under the nationalist state and development discourse: the rise and fall of San Pa Khoi, 1932-1992
Major political changes occurred in Chiang Mai again when the People’s Party revolutionized the government in 1932, causing central government bureaucrats to become part of the People’s Party network instead of Bangkok royalty’s. Payap Province was eventually dissolved, and in 1933 an indirect election was held, with the first representative of Chiang Mai Province, Luang Si Prakas, who lived in the San Pa Khoi area, purchasing the former home of Simo, an important native Christian of the Church in Chiang Mai, which later became a famous hotel. Later, Chiang Mai Municipality was established to develop public utilities for the city instead of Chiang Mai Sanitation Agency. Chao Kaew Nawarat died in 1939, and the military-led People’s Party no longer established governors, completing the merge of Chiang Mai as part of Siam.
Between 1938-1943, the military dictatorship implemented a number of laws that excluded Chinese people from both occupational and restricted settlement areas, which provided services for key business sectors across the country, such as transportation and distribution of rice, liquor and tobacco. However, Chinese individuals and businesses in Chiang Mai, including in San Pa Khoi, were only partially affected, as businessmen of Chinese descent usually had marital connections to a family of local lords or nobles, as well as strong ties with government officials both in the area and from the central region. In some cases, surnames were changed to Thai completely, and companies continued to be established to work with state enterprises for sale of important products, management of monopoly concessions, or production and distribution of tobacco to state enterprises, such as those located in the Anusarn Building in the San Pa Khoi area, and the Northern Mill Association, a private company which distributed rice to state-owned enterprises for further distribution. However, there remained Chinese who maintained ties with the Chinese Association, who were discovered by the state to be supporters of the Kuomintang Party and were forced to relocate their families and relinquish management of their businesses to Thai associates. When the war ended, these business people resumed their operations in Chiang Mai.
In 1934, the Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT) was officially established for Protestant Christians in Thailand, and administrative power was removed from the American missionaries across the country and in parts of Chiang Mai, wherever the affairs of churches and schools were overseen by the missionaries. The original Presbyterian Church was administered by the first Christian disciples. These people became clergymen, businessmen in San Pa Khoi, and teachers in missionary schools, such as Sri Mo Wichai, Khamai Chaiyawan, and their descendants, who later founded the Monthon Church and provided assistance to the Christian community during World War II, when American missionaries escaping the war either returned to the United States or hid from the Japanese. After the war ended, the missionaries were invited to return. Ultimately, however, when it was evident that the native Christians had effectively managed the Church, the American Presbyterian Church cancelled the Mission Siam project in 1958. The transfer of mission work to local Christians did not go smoothly in all areas of Siam, but Chiang Mai remained free from conflict despite being the largest city with the highest concentration of Buddhist temples. This illustrates the strength of Christian communities in the Chiang Mai and San Pa Khoi areas, who inherited the willingness, and preserved the legacy established by American missionaries, to live peacefully alongside Buddhists.
During World War II, the Thai Government, led by Field Marshal P. Pibulsonggram, declared support for Japan and the Axis powers, effecting a station of Japanese troops in Chiang Mai. American missionaries and Western immigrants fled, but a community of Thai-Chinese businessmen remained who worked and manufactured products for the Japanese army. When Thailand’s government changed after the war, the Free Thai Movement became the mainstay, associated with the anti-communist policies of the United States in the context of the Cold War. Despite the revolution and resistance that led to government alternating between military dictatorship and parliamentary state between 1947-1977, state policy changed very little and remained focused on the development of basic infrastructure, transportation and economic stimulus for exports, in response to the Chinese Communist Party’s idea of urban encirclement. Chinese business groups in Chiang Mai and San Pa Khoi continued to expand within the context of the Cold War. Roads were constructed and expanded connecting Chiang Mai with surrounding cities and neighboring provinces in the north. In 1952, the government enacted the National Highway Construction Act, essentially a commitment by the Department of Highways to complete construction of 88 routes within 4 years (1952-1955), 18 of which were for the northern region, including from Chainat Province to Ko Kha, Mueang Thoen, Mueang Ngao, Lampang Province and Muaeng Li Province, from Lamphun, Rong Kwang District, Phrae Province, and Muaeng Fang Province to Chiang Rai Province, from Lamphun to Lampang District, and from Mae Chaem District, Chiang Mai Province to Mae Hong Son Province. Additionally, repairs were performed on various roads such as Chiang Mai-Hod, Chiang Mai-San Kamphaeng, Chiang Mai-San Sai, Chiang Mai-Chiang Dao-Fang, and Chiang Mai-Lamphun, as well as expansion of routes between Chiang Mai, Lampang, Nakhon Sawan, Chiang Rai, and Mae Hong Son, which were gradually completed between 1969-1987.
This ongoing large-scale construction project resulted in economic growth in Chiang Mai and the San Pa Khoi area, mostly related to construction materials and trade of agricultural products, which supported many government projects, with money donated to assist various public operations related to the Buddhist community and city of Chiang Mai, such as support for a group of construction material and machinery merchants, Kruba Sriwichai, for building a road leading to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, and restoration and renovation of various temples. Local business groups, especially related to the Nimmanhaemin and Chutima families, also supported and called upon the central government to invest in development of important infrastructure and Chiang Mai University, on land these families donated to the state. Establishment of the university resulted in permanent sources of employment as well as transfer of technology from central state to the locality, such as reinforced concrete construction used for roads and other specific structures used by university buildings, which also influenced commercial buildings in the San Pa Khoi area during this time, endowing them with unique structures and sun-screens.
Additionally, while the government was under continuous military dictatorship for some time, Kawila Camp acted as one of the administrative centers in the area, making the district an important and modern area for the Chiang Mai community. Dechanukroh Boxing Stadium opened in Kawila Camp in 1946 and later, in 1955, Wor Por 2 Chiang Mai Radio Station, the first radio broadcast station in Chiang Mai. A hospital was attached to Kawila Camp in 1958 and, as the San Pa Khoi area became more prosperous, a local movie theatre was built in 1967, named Mr. Lert Shinawatra Chintasanee Cinema, providing an additional source of entertainment for young people in San Pa Khoi.
As a comprehensive road network was established, the first bus station in Chiang Mai, Chang Phueak Bus Station, was built in the north of the city on Chotana Road in 1966 as the first passenger bus terminal in the northern region. It was later expanded by a second bus station on Kaew Nawarat Road in 1983. The presence of a bus station and provincial highway network connecting the northern cities with Bangkok led to a decrease in the use of railways. Transport by truck is convenient and limited only by the presence of a road. As a result of cheap land and easy access to large cargo parking lots, shopping malls relocated to roads on the outer network. As the junctions of transportation shifted away from water and rail, of which San Pa Khoi was the center, to roads and bus stations outside the city, the San Pa Khoi and Charoen Mueang Road areas ceased to be the hub connecting important transportation routes. Charoen Mueang Road developed during the early years of Chiang Mai’s urban expansion. It was small and inconvenient for wholesalers to stop for large amounts of goods, with traffic jams becoming more prevalent as the city expanded and the number of cars increased. Since the San Pa Khoi area was surrounded by important institutions, including a military camp, hospital, and two large schools, development became limited within the area. Development of high-rise and extra-large buildings on Charoen Mueang Road was limited by security legislation, namely the Military Safety Zone Act of 1935 and Chiang Mai Provincial Military Safe Zone by Royal Decree of 1940. The area north of Charoen Mueang Road was in close proximity to educational institutions, which limited the use of land for activities and entertainment venues. However, the advantage to this slowing of land development in San Pa Khoi is that valuable buildings from each period have escaped demolition and remain standing to this day.
[1] Thai Encyclopedia for Youth Volume 15
[2] Kamolthon Palanan. (2018). The worldview of Simo Wichai in the transitional era of Lanna society, 1889-1938. Thesis, Master of Arts. Srinakharinwirot University: Bangkok. 32.
[3] Charlie Euaphaibun. (2012). Power relations between American missionaries and various class groups in Chiang Mai society, 1867-1941. Master's thesis. Graduate School Chiang Mai University: Chiang Mai. 64.
[4] http://www.chiangmainews.co.th/chaingmai/intawa.html
[5] It is not known exactly what year San Pa Khoi Market was built, but it is recorded that it was in 1926 when King Rama VII visited Chiang Mai. There is already a San Pa Khoi market. and was created by Phra Phichit Medicine Khun Anuphon Nakhon and Phraya Anurudthewa Phra Phichit Osot came to serve in the government service from Bangkok in 1902, which may have been a small market before because he was from Anu Noen Hat, Pol. Lt. Col. (2006). San Pa Khoi (Chiang Mai Society 15)Noppaburi Printing: Chiang Mai. It is stated that Phra Phichit Osot assigned his son to collect the market rental money. The son should have reached the age of 18 to be able to work, so it can be assumed that the market should have been completed. The results are after 1920 and before 1926.
[6]See more in Promulgation of the Chiang Mai City Sanitation Management Act at the Royal Gazette, Volume 30, Part 0 A, Page 477, dated March 8, 1913.
Act on the Establishment of Chiang Mai Municipality, B.E. 2478, published in the Royal Gazette, Volume 52, Section 80, Page 2136, dated March 29, 1935.
[7]Kamolthon Palanan. (2018). The worldview of Simo Wichai in the transitional era of Lanna society, 1889-1938. Thesis, Master of Arts. Srinakharinwirot University: Bangkok 86.
[8]Dahlfred, Karl. “A Bumpy Road to Indigenization: The American Presbyterian Mission and the Church of Christ in Thailand.” The Journal of Presbyterian History (1997-), Vol. 99, No. 1, Special Issue I: The Dynamics of Indigenization: Presbyterian and Reformed Histories on the World Stage (Spring/Summer 2021), pp. 35-47.
[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WGMT-M4maY
[10] https://www.chiangmainews.co.th/page/archives/913958
[11] https://fortkawilahospital.rta.mi.th/web/?page_id=16
[12] Supachai Saenjai. Geographic analysis of entertainment venues in Chiang Mai city. Thesis (Master of Science (Geography major)). Chiang Mai : Graduate School Chiang Mai University, 2011. p. 63.
