In 1854, Reverend Mother Mathilde Raclot, who had already been in Penang for 2 years, was sent to Singapore to start the Convent and the Orphanage. The Orphanage, the school and the Convent occupied the site on Victoria Street until 1983 when the Mass Rapid Transit Corporation acquired the land for the development of its site office.

When the Sisters opened their doors, it was reported that babies and orphans were brought to them. Many of the babies were sickly and often on the verge of death. Often, the Sisters found day old babies deposited at their gate.

During the Japanese occupation of Singapore when bombs were frequently dropped on the island and conditions became intolerable, the Orphanage shifted to Bahau and Seremban, two small towns in Malaya. This took place in early 1944 and when peace came, they returned to Singapore on 7 October 1945 with 112 children and 14 sisters.

After the war, the Orphanage re-established itself at its previous premises. Even though many children given to the Convent during this period were subsequently adopted or reclaimed by their parents in later years when their own home situation improved, a large number remained in the care of the sisters.

By the 1960s, the sisters were beginning to question the wisdom of keeping so many children and young girls in an institutional set-up. Another issue was that the sisters could only provide custodial care to the babies and orphans. Around this time, a decision was taken to move the orphanage out of the city for a country setting. This was also due to overcrowding of the town site which now housed two schools, the Convent, the Orphanage and the Babies' House. In 1968, a Children's Home, named Girls' Town was built in Bukit Timah and about 100 children from the ages of 6 were transferred there from the town Convent. Those left behind in town site were the babies, toddlers and some of the disabled adults.

In time, most of the girls were discharged; those who could not trace their families were encouraged to go out to work in the factories and then live out on their own. By 1982, when all the residents were either transferred to the newly established Centre in Clementi or had moved out, Girls' Town was closed.