Near the foot of Morrison Hill was a part of the Happy Valley Racecourse — the Chinese public stands. In the photo that records the disastrous fire of the horse sheds in 1918, we can see Morrison Hill, quite tall at that time, behind the stands and the smoke.

The government had taken an interest in Morrison Hill since the 1920s. The plan was to bring it down outright, so as to collect clay for the Wan Chai reclamation. That, however, was just partly realized: the government led off by removing its spur, which adjoined the waterfront, to construct Wan Chai Road, but as the project went ahead in larger scale it was discovered that there was far less fill material available for extraction than was estimated. The hill was, as the government now understood, formed mostly out of hard, solid rock, which was very difficult to exploit with existing technology. It meant that the part near Queen’s Road East had to remain untouched, and so half of Morrison Hill survived.

Anyway, when the scheme was first carried out, a light railway was constructed on Morrison Hill to deliver the extracted clay to the reclamation site. This railway was turned into Wood Road as the project ended. Since extraction was easier around Wood Road, the area also saw the earliest community development. At that time the government stipulated that only playground, garden, religious venue and school could be built on Morrison Hill. The first structure there was Morrison Hill Technical Institute, founded by the Hong Kong Construction Association in 1936.

The part of Morrison Hill near Queen’s Road East remained a quarry even in the 1950s, covered with jagged rocks and weeds. It was in the 1960s that the hill was completely flattened, after which came a variety of facilities like Oi Kwan Road, Tang Shiu Kin Hospital, Morrison Hill Swimming Pool, Queen Elizabeth Stadium, and Morrison Hill Skatepark.