This is one of the original Chinese Apartment/ Laundry built in Calgary in 1914 to wash clothes for the railway workers who worked at the CPR rail yard. Eng Hon Quan and Eng Shon Yun operated the Hong Lee Laundry from the main floor. There were 18 second floor rooms used by the borders until the early 1920’s. The external veneer red brick created a false façade to make the building look impressive. Today the red brick has been given a coat of stucco that covers the original red brick. The laundry has been renovated into apartments in the Ogden area of Calgary.
The First Calgary Chinatown
The first Chinatown was formed in Calgary in the early 1890’s following the completion of the Trans Canada railway (Sciban, 2010).
It was located at the corner of Centre Street South and Ninth Avenue East and by 1890 contained two groceries, a laundry, two restaurants, and a rooming house. However, it was soon too small and a second one was established at Tenth Avenue and First Street SW. By 1910, it contained twelve businesses and the Chinese Mission, the precursor to the Chinese United Church.
The pending arrival of the Canadian Northern Railway pushed up land prices forcing Chinese Canadian residents to vacate ; however, by then they were in a position to buy rather than rent property. Thus, in 1910 several Chinese merchants pooled their capital to purchase land at the corner of Centre Street and Second Avenue SE and built the two story brick structure called the Canton Block that still stands today. This building became the cornerstone of Calgary’s Chinatown for the next eighty years.
Alderman James Short petitioned city commissioners on behalf of local property owners to prohibit Chinese Canadians from establishing themselves there, on the argument that their presence would drive down property values. The broader community supported the new owners and the Chinatown was able to proceed. It ironic today that the James Short Parkade located on 4th Avenue and Centre Street is located within a block of the heart of Chinatown.
DR. SUN YAT SEN AND THE OVERSEAS CHINESE
In April of 1911, Dr. Sun Yat Sen visited Calgary to solicit funds from the overseas Chinese for the overthrow of China’s last dynasty. It was the funding of the overseas Chinese that made Dr. Sen’s revolution a success.
With the coming of the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act with its blatant discrimination policies of the Federal Government, Chinese Canadians were denied equal government support during the Great Depression. It is a little known fact that in spite of this discrimination the Chinese Canadians raised money for the war effort and there were numbers of young Chinese men who volunteered and fought in the Western and Pacific theatre in World War II but were not recognized for their efforts because of their Chinese ancestry but were in fact home grown Canadians.
THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT
The Chinese Exclusion Act was abolished in 1947 and that abolition allowed Chinese Canadians to be reunited with their families. With John Diefenbaker’s overhaul of the immigration act Chinese Canadians who were paying taxes since 1905 were finally allowed to apply to become Canadian citizens but it was not until 1967 that all restrictions on immigration were eliminated.
SIENLOK SOCIETY ORGANIZES NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON URBAN RENEWAL AS IT AFFECTS CHINATOWN
The threat to remove Calgary’s Chinatown again reappeared in the 1960’s. During this time, Chinatowns across Canada were targeted for replacement in urban renewal projects. In Calgary, city hall proposed that a freeway be built through Calgary’s Chinatown proceed.
In response to the proposed destruction of Calgary’s Chinatown, persons in the Chinese Community formed the Sienlok Society. The founders of the Sienlok Society include Canadian born Chinese such as Ray Lee born in Crossfield, Alberta.
At the behest of the Chinese Community, the City of Calgary finally agreed to officially designate boundaries for Calgary’s Chinatown in the city by-laws. The official boundaries were defined as the riverbank from the Bow River to the north side of 4th Avenue SW and from 2nd Street SE to 2nd Street SW in 1974.
Here are some notable events during that time.
· 1976 Chinatown Development Task Force established to provide more housing facilities
· Oi Kwan Place a seniors residence is built
· The Lee Association of Calgary, The Chinese Public School and The Calgary Chinese Foundation provide land and money in a joint project to create a nonprofit low cost housing project that creates Bowside Manor.
· 1985 the Wai Kwan Manor for Senior Citizens is opened
· 1992 The Chinese Cultural Centre, modeled after the Hall of Prayer in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing opens. Skilled workers from Beijing work two years working on the unique bell towered roof. The centre houses a gymnasium, a Chinese school, a museum portraying the history of Calgary’s Chinatown and replica artifacts that cover 5000 years of Chinese Culture.
· The Chinese axiology that the community is more important than the individual has allowed benevolent associations to create these community projects.
· In the greater Calgary community there are over 100,000 people of Asian extraction with over 150 different community organizations.
There is still an undercurrent of creating a balance between the City of Calgary and developers on striking a balance between preserving Chinese culture and corporate development whose bottom line is profit
The First Calgary Chinatown
The first Chinatown was formed in Calgary in the early 1890’s following the completion of the Trans Canada railway (Sciban, 2010).
It was located at the corner of Centre Street South and Ninth Avenue East and by 1890 contained two groceries, a laundry, two restaurants, and a rooming house. However, it was soon too small and a second one was established at Tenth Avenue and First Street SW. By 1910, it contained twelve businesses and the Chinese Mission, the precursor to the Chinese United Church.
The pending arrival of the Canadian Northern Railway pushed up land prices forcing Chinese Canadian residents to vacate ; however, by then they were in a position to buy rather than rent property. Thus, in 1910 several Chinese merchants pooled their capital to purchase land at the corner of Centre Street and Second Avenue SE and built the two story brick structure called the Canton Block that still stands today. This building became the cornerstone of Calgary’s Chinatown for the next eighty years.
Alderman James Short petitioned city commissioners on behalf of local property owners to prohibit Chinese Canadians from establishing themselves there, on the argument that their presence would drive down property values. The broader community supported the new owners and the Chinatown was able to proceed. It ironic today that the James Short Parkade located on 4th Avenue and Centre Street is located within a block of the heart of Chinatown.
DR. SUN YAT SEN AND THE OVERSEAS CHINESE
In April of 1911, Dr. Sun Yat Sen visited Calgary to solicit funds from the overseas Chinese for the overthrow of China’s last dynasty. It was the funding of the overseas Chinese that made Dr. Sen’s revolution a success.
With the coming of the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act with its blatant discrimination policies of the Federal Government, Chinese Canadians were denied equal government support during the Great Depression. It is a little known fact that in spite of this discrimination the Chinese Canadians raised money for the war effort and there were numbers of young Chinese men who volunteered and fought in the Western and Pacific theatre in World War II but were not recognized for their efforts because of their Chinese ancestry but were in fact home grown Canadians.
THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT
The Chinese Exclusion Act was abolished in 1947 and that abolition allowed Chinese Canadians to be reunited with their families. With John Diefenbaker’s overhaul of the immigration act Chinese Canadians who were paying taxes since 1905 were finally allowed to apply to become Canadian citizens but it was not until 1967 that all restrictions on immigration were eliminated.
SIENLOK SOCIETY ORGANIZES NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON URBAN RENEWAL AS IT AFFECTS CHINATOWN
The threat to remove Calgary’s Chinatown again reappeared in the 1960’s. During this time, Chinatowns across Canada were targeted for replacement in urban renewal projects. In Calgary, city hall proposed that a freeway be built through Calgary’s Chinatown proceed.
In response to the proposed destruction of Calgary’s Chinatown, persons in the Chinese Community formed the Sienlok Society. The founders of the Sienlok Society include Canadian born Chinese such as Ray Lee born in Crossfield, Alberta.
At the behest of the Chinese Community, the City of Calgary finally agreed to officially designate boundaries for Calgary’s Chinatown in the city by-laws. The official boundaries were defined as the riverbank from the Bow River to the north side of 4th Avenue SW and from 2nd Street SE to 2nd Street SW in 1974.
Here are some notable events during that time.
· 1976 Chinatown Development Task Force established to provide more housing facilities
· Oi Kwan Place a seniors residence is built
· The Lee Association of Calgary, The Chinese Public School and The Calgary Chinese Foundation provide land and money in a joint project to create a nonprofit low cost housing project that creates Bowside Manor.
· 1985 the Wai Kwan Manor for Senior Citizens is opened
· 1992 The Chinese Cultural Centre, modeled after the Hall of Prayer in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing opens. Skilled workers from Beijing work two years working on the unique bell towered roof. The centre houses a gymnasium, a Chinese school, a museum portraying the history of Calgary’s Chinatown and replica artifacts that cover 5000 years of Chinese Culture.
· The Chinese axiology that the community is more important than the individual has allowed benevolent associations to create these community projects.
· In the greater Calgary community there are over 100,000 people of Asian extraction with over 150 different community organizations.
There is still an undercurrent of creating a balance between the City of Calgary and developers on striking a balance between preserving Chinese culture and corporate development whose bottom line is profit
Canton Block (2010 photo). Originally many of the Benevolent associations had their headquarters in this building. Today, for example the corner building houses the headquarters for the Hong Kong Immigration Society.