As early as the 1920s, there was already an open-air market along Jalan Jurong Kechil at the open ground beside where the present day Esso Petrol Station stands. It served the predominantly rubber and pineapple plantation workers living in the area. Farmers would bring their surplus to sell at this market or at the Ellenborough Market, located near present day Clark Quay MRT Station, using bullock carts. Soon, shops and residences sprang up around it forming the Bukit Timah Village. The village had the market in the centre, a Chinese temple, school and even a graveyard. The village was also known as Beh Chia Loh Boey which meant 'terminal of the horse carriage way' in Hokkien because it was then the end of Bukit Timah Road, beyond which was the jungle of Bukit Timah Hill.