Washington Street

Washington Street

The Heart and Soul of Stockton Chinatown

Stockton’s Chinatowns

The Chinese traveled through Stockton on their way to the southern gold mines.  They called Stockton Sam Fow or “third city,” compared to San Francisco, which was Dai Fow (“big city”) and Sacramento, which was Yee Fow (“second city”).  Stockton was an ideal location because of its water access and its proximity to the southern mines.  During the gold rush, Stockton’s first Chinese community settled along Channel Street and Bridge Place, between North El Dorado and North Hunter Streets. 

Ralph O. Yardley served as the editorial cartoonist at the Stockton Record from 1922 until 1952. He published a weekly series of cartoons titled, “Do You Remember?” that focused on Stockton’s past. The cartoon is drawn based on his memories of early Stockton.
Courtesy of the Haggin Museum, Stockton, California

The 1850 census shows fifty-three Chinese men living in San Joaquin County.  They served as traders, stewards, laundrymen, cooks, a hotel keeper, and a barber.  Their numbers swelled during the winter, when Chinese miners returned to Stockton to live.  It was here they would buy food and supplies, and get news from home.

In the 1860s, a second Chinese community settled along Mormon Slough, between Butler Street and Scotts Avenue.  The Chinese caught and dried fish to ship to the Mother Lode and to San Francisco for export to China.  By the 1870s, there were 106 Chinese fishermen in Stockton.  They also farmed vegetables using an irrigation system that pumped water from the slough.  The Mormon Slough village thrived for over thirty years until 1893, when the Weber Family sold the property to the Buel Land and Lumber Company.  

Stockton had three Chinese communities prior to the 1890s that at one time coexisted with each other. The earliest settlement was at Channel Street between El Dorado and Hunter Streets and closed in the early 1920s. Scott Avenue between Madison and Commerce was primarily a fishing, agricultural, and laundry village that existed until 1893. Washington Street between El Dorado and Hunter Street was the longest-lived Chinatown, ending by the 1970s.
Charles Weber Family Collection

Fire was a constant threat for a city constructed of canvas tents and wood-framed buildings.  Major fires swept through Stockton in 1849, 1851, 1855, and 1862.  In 1862, an exploding lamp started a fire that destroyed many of the houses in Channel Street’s Chinatown.  After the fire, some of the Chinese moved several blocks south to East Washington Street, between Hunter and El Dorado Streets.  By the early 1900s, this area had become the center of the Chinese community.  The once thriving Chinese community on Channel Street had almost disappeared by 1920. Washington Street’s Chinatown was the heart of Stockton’s Chinese community until the 1960s.  

Washington Street at El Dorado, looking East, circa 1880. Courtest of the Haggin Museum, Stockton, California

It was here that businesses like On Lock Sam, Canton Low, Quong Wah Yuen Delicatessen and Market, Lee Yuen Merchandising Company, Stockton Poultry Market, Yet Bun Heong Bakery, Foo Lung Company, and others became pillars in the Chinese community.


Reflection Question:
Most people have never heard of Stockton’s Chinatown. Why?