On 9 October 1983, local ventures had won the MRT job for the construction of the tunnel from City Hall to Raffles Place. On the larger scale, on 4 May 1984, the contractor, Taisei-Shimizu-Marubeni had awarded the contract for the station, Contract 108. To make way for the construction of the station, the Chartered Bank Building was torn down. During the construction, massive rocks were blasted out of the way for the station, which shook several buildings near the station. This station used to be the largest and deepest MRT station in Singapore, but the record has since been broken multiple times, first by Dhoby Ghaut in 2003, then by Bras Basah in 2010, by Promenade in 2013 and then by Bencoolen in 2017, which is currently holding the record at 43 metres below ground. In 1998, some foreigners who could not find accommodation in Singapore were caught staying overnight in the station, and were regarded as loiterers. It is also one of the four MRT stations to appear in "Uniquely Singapore Edition" of the board game "Monopoly".