High Street was constructed under the command of Lieutenant Henry Ralfe, a gunnery officer of the East India Company’s Bengal Artillery, soon after Sir Stamford Raffles founded Singapore in 1819. It was named High Street due to its topographically elevated position which prevented it from flooding. As depicted in the postcard, trams became a popular form of transportation in 1905 after the municipal authority had passed the Tramways Ordinance in 1902
