Chinatowns in San Jose, California facts for kids

San Jose, California, was once home to a large Chinese-American community. These families were very important to the farms in the Santa Clara Valley. However, Chinese immigrants and their children faced unfair treatment and rules from others. Because of this, they lived in five different Chinatowns from the 1860s to the 1930s:

• First Market Street Chinatown (1866–1870)
• Vine Street Chinatown (1870–1872)
• Second Market Street Chinatown, also called Plaza Chinatown (1872–1887)
• Woolen Mills Chinatown (1887–1902)
• Heinlenville, also called the Sixth Street Chinatown (1887–1931)

The two largest of these communities were the Second Market Street Chinatown and Heinlenville.

San Jose's Early Chinatowns

San Jose's first Chinatown was located at Market and San Fernando streets. City officials noticed the Chinese community there by 1866. By January 1870, some white residents began complaining to the San Jose City Council about the Chinese people living in the area.

A few weeks later, this Chinatown burned down. The San Jose Fire Department did very little to help save it.

Moving to Vine Street

Within weeks, a group called the New Chinatown Land Association rented 4 acres (about 1.6 hectares) on Vine Street. This was near the Guadalupe River. The 1870 census showed that 454 people lived in the Vine Street Chinatown. The city's first Chinese temple, or joss house, was built there later.

Meanwhile, in March 1870, a rich Chinese businessman from San Francisco rented the land of the original Market Street Chinatown. Some Chinese residents moved back to Market Street due to pressure from Vine Street neighbors. Heavy flooding on the Guadalupe River in the winter of 1871 to 1872 ended the short-lived Vine Street Chinatown.

The Second Market Street Chinatown

The second Market Street Chinatown grew to about 1,400 people by 1876. By 1884, it covered most of the block along Market Plaza. This was between San Fernando and San Antonio streets.

On March 24, 1887, the city council said Chinatown was a "public nuisance." They talked about ways to legally remove the community from the city's center. On May 4, Chinatown burned down in a very intense fire. Many white residents watched without helping. Local newspapers even celebrated the neighborhood's destruction.

The next day, the city council approved money for a new San Jose City Hall. It was to be built across from the former Chinatown. They also said that no Chinese workers could be used to build it. The people from Market Street Chinatown temporarily lived at San Fernando and Vine streets. Then they moved to the Woolen Mills Chinatown and Heinlenville, both north of the city.

In the 1980s, the Redevelopment Agency of San Jose paid for an archaeological dig. This was part of a city improvement project. Stanford University researchers began studying the old items found in 2002. On September 28, 2021, the city formally said sorry for its past unfair treatment of the Chinese community. This included its role in the 1887 fire.

Woolen Mills Chinatown

After the 1887 fire, the Chinese community moved to two new places north of the city center. One of these was on land rented from L. M. Hoeffler. It was near the San Jose Woolen Manufacturing Company at Taylor and First streets.

Two important Chinese community leaders, Ng Fook and Chin Shin, raised money to build this new settlement. They even paid for expensive sewer connections that the city demanded. This area was known by several names, including Woolen Mills Chinatown, Big Jim's Chinatown, Taylor Street Chinatown, and Phillipsville.

Unlike other Chinatowns in San Jose, Woolen Mills was mostly home to factory and farm workers. It was not known for being wealthy. At its largest, it covered 15 blocks. It included the Garden City Cannery and, unusually, a Chinese theater and two joss houses close together.

Ng Fook died in 1888, and Chin Shin returned to China soon after. When the cannery closed, most buildings became laundries or were left empty. Most residents moved to Heinlenville by 1901. The neighborhood was destroyed in a fire the next year.

In 1999, the California Department of Transportation worked with the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project. They did an archaeological dig at the site. This was part of finishing the Guadalupe Freeway.

Heinlenville

Days after the Market Street Chinatown burned in 1887, John Heinlen started planning a new home for the city's Chinese residents. He owned a 5-acre (about 2-hectare) pasture near the wealthy Hensley neighborhood.

Heinlen kept going even though the city refused building permits. White residents also threatened him and showed strong opposition. Heinlen signed agreements with Chinese merchants on June 20 and July 14, 1887. The new neighborhood was finished in 1888.

Heinlenville had many different businesses. There were merchants, barbers, traditional doctors, and Chinese herbalists. It also had a Taoist temple called the Ng Shing Gung (Chinese: 五聖宮). Heinlenville became a first stop for many Chinese people moving to the Santa Clara Valley. It also attracted Japanese migrants, leading to a Japantown on Sixth Street.

At its busiest, Heinlenville had 4,000 people. This was more than any other Chinatown in the city's history. After John Heinlen died in December 1903, his children took over running the Heinlen Company. They went door-to-door to collect rent.

Heinlenville was damaged in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. But it was not destroyed like the San Francisco Chinatown. Merchants quickly rebuilt and made their shops bigger. They did well because the local farming industry was growing.

Heinlenville became smaller in the 1920s. Younger people looked for jobs in business or factories instead of shopkeeping or gambling. They also wanted better homes outside the old neighborhood. In 1931, during the Great Depression, the Heinlen Company went bankrupt. It sold its Heinlenville land to the city. Most remaining residents moved to Japantown.

The city tore down the entire neighborhood. Only the Ng Shing Gung building was left. The land was used for a city work yard. After an 18-year legal fight, the Ng Shing Gung was taken apart in May 1949. In 1991, it was rebuilt in History Park in San Jose. It is now a museum with items from Heinlenville.

See also

• History of the Chinese Americans in San Francisco
• Anti-Chinese violence in California
• Japantown, San Jose
• Little Saigon, San Jose