Here's some history on Ang Mo Kio:
"Local villagers who once lived in the area believed that the name
means 'red-haired man's bridge' in the Hokkien dialect. (the local
Chinese reference to Europeans' bridge) The 'bridge' refers to one
or both of the bridges once located in the area. Both these bridges
were built during the British colonial period. In naming the new
town, the HDB has retained the phonetics of the name but changed
the Chinese characters in the name so that they now mean 'large and
prosperous bridge'.
Throughout the nineteenth century, Ang Mo Kio was still an
uninhabited area. Settlers were attracted to the area only around
the turn of this century as a result of the rubber boom. The world
slump in rubber prices in 1922 and again in 1932 affected rubber
cultivation. People who had moved into the area to work either as
tappers or labourers eventually turned to pig and poultry farming
or market gardening.
During the WWII when Singapore was occupied by the Japanese, more
people moved into the Ang Mo Kio area to take up farming. Up to
1970s, Ang Mo Kio was still a forested area in which several
villages were clustered. The people in the village earned their
living through farming. One of these villages, Cheng San, was a
relatively large kampong with the rubber estates, orchid farms as
well as pig, poultry and vegetable farms. In the early 1960s,
community centres were established. These community centres played
am important role in the organization of rural life."
Hope that helps 
