First built in 1903-04, this building was the main station for rickshaw services in Singapore during the early 1900s. The first rickshaws - small, lightweight, two-wheeled carts drawn by rickshaw-pullers - were imported into Singapore from Shanghai in 1880, and by 1888 a Jinricksha Department was established in Singapore to register, license and control the rickshaw population. By 1919, there were some 9,000 rickshaws manned by over 20,000 pullers working. After WWII, the rickshaws were slowly phased out and replaced by trishaws.