This photo shows the rubber factory owned by Mr Lim Nee Soon in Seletar in the early 20th century, named ‘Nee Soon & Sons, Ltd Rubber Works’. Mr. Lim Nee Soon was a prominent Chinese businessman and philanthropist. Born in Singapore in 1879, Mr. Lim founded Lim Nee Soon & Co. in 1911 and ran a successful rubber enterprise amongst other commercial interests. Besides the factory, Mr. Lim also owned vast tracts of rubber plantations in Seletar. The factory was considered a modern facility, with processing machines and pipes carrying water from the nearby Seletar River for the treatment of rubber. It was a popular attraction with tourists, with many of them stopping by to visit the factory while on holiday cruises passing through the region. With the arrival of plantation and factory workers, settlements sprouted up in the adjoining areas which developed to become the Nee Soon Village.
