Prior to the opening of the station, it was named Adam. The contract for the construction and completion of Adam and Farrer stations (including of twin bored tunnels was awarded to Taisei Corporation for approximately S$391 million in July 2004. Public consultation of the station began in January 2006 and only two names were selected - Botanic Gardens and Cluny Road. Botanic Gardens was eventually selected because this station also connects to the popular UNESCO World Heritage Site. Cluny Road was also selected because it was around the location of a former railway station "Cluny Road" that closed down in 1930s. On 12 September that year, the final name is renamed to Botanic Gardens due to it being a popular offered choice by those who polled. Construction of the Circle line station began on 10 March 2005. It had acquired some of the Botanic Gardens, but restored on 10 March 2010.
Downtown line
Construction of the Downtown line station began on 12 February that year. On 11 March 2012, a worker was killed at a site near the Botanic Gardens, beside the contractor's site office after a concrete slab fell on him. 35-year-old Masud al-Mamun was operating an excavator deep in the ground when the slab fell on him. Rescuers had to use a breaking tool kit to break a portion of the concrete slab. It took nearly five hours to reach the man lying motionless on the ground. This is the first casualty related case in the construction of the Downtown line. On the morning of 3 May 2017, Downtown line train services towards Chinatown were disrupted for 7 hours due to a platform screen door malfunction at Botanic Gardens MRT. This, as stated by SBS Transit, the line's operator, was due to a signalling-related fault. This resulted in the doors being unable to open automatically, which meant that staff had to manually operate them whenever a train arrived at the station, which took some time and thus caused delays in train services. SBS Transit sent out an alert on Twitter at 7.31am about the fault, advising commuters to expect additional travelling time of up to 10 minutes. However, many commuters complained that the travel time was more than 10 minutes. The decision was eventually made at 9.37am to close the platform for trains heading towards Chinatown to enable engineers to resolve the fault. As a result, station staff were stationed at Botanic Gardens, Stevens and Tan Kah Kee stations to advise passengers on how to get to their destinations. The fault was eventually rectified at 12.54pm and the platform was reopened for passenger service. However, two doors were closed for more in-depth repairs that night.
Art in Transit
The artwork featured in the Circle line section under the Art in Transit programme is Aquatic Fauna No. 1 by Kai Lam and Chua Chye Teck. The mural, displayed above the platform doors, contains symbolic imageries of water and aquatic animals using the Chinese paper cutting technique. The "fauna" mural not only highlights the station's proximity to the Botanic Gardens, but also complements the 2-storey high water-cascading wall in the station, the first to have such a feature within the station. The Downtown line section features the artwork "What is a Tree?" by Shirley Soh. Various vistas of the Tembusu on the front lawn of the Botanic Gardens are created to pose the ontological questions.
