4. BEGINNING CHINATOWN


In 1904, the Town and Village of Niagara Falls amalgamated and formed the City of Niagara Falls. Overall population rose to just over 7,000. Tourism was growing. Visitors arrived by train at the Grand Trunk (now VIA) Station on Bridge Street or the Michigan Central (southeast corner of Queen Street & Erie Avenue). A number of hotels were conveniently located on lower Bridge Street.
City Hall was on the southwest corner of Queen and Erie. The library occupied the upper floor of the Bampfield Block on the northeast corner. The main post office was on the northeast corner of Park & Zimmerman (previously known as Clifton Ave.) In addition, two banks were nearby: one across from City Hall and the other in the Savoy Hotel (Bridge & Zimmerman). Park Street, Erie Avenue and adjacent streets were ideal locations to set up a business and formed the shopping district of the north end of the city. At the same time, Main Street held the core of stores for the city's south end.

Northwest Corner of Erie & Park Streets, 1907
Courtesy of Niagara Falls (Ontario) Public Library Digital Collections
Despite the mockery of Chinese opening hand laundries (see Lem Sing account in Chinese in Early Niagara Falls post), their operation attests to the resourcefulness and perseverance of Chinese immigrants in the face of restrictive immigration and employment practices, low financial resources, limited marketable skills, and vast language differences.

 Enduring Hardship: The Chinese Laundry in Canada by Ban Seng Hoe (Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2003) provides an illustrated account of the trials faced by Chinese laundrymen. In addition, Dance Me No More: Chinese hand laundries in Toronto by Lee Wai-Ma (1984) describes the political context up to the 1920s.

 An examination of records for individual addresses reveals that they were often operated by different laundrymen and could imply that they were transient or demonstrated poor business practices. However, neither may be the case. According to Siener (2008), when a person returned to China, his interest in a business was often left to a relative as a loan. Similarly, Hoe (2003) writes that friends and relations were frequently left in charge of a laundry while an owner went back to China to marry or to start a family.

Figure 1, Figure 2, and Figure 3 below chronologically track Chinese laundries in Niagara Falls. Rectangles indicate years (as a vertical axis) and ovals record street addresses and individuals. Solid lines are used to show definite connections. Dotted lines are used for likely relationships. Gaps exist for years when data were not available due to issues with city directories. 1911 and 1921 were both census years.
Abbreviations: b. - year of birth; imm. - year of immigration

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Figure 1: Erie Ave. - Park St. Laundries


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Figure 2: Welland Ave. - Queen St. - Ontario Ave. Laundries


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Figure 3: Victoria Ave. - Main St. Laundries

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Most Chinese laundries in Niagara Falls were gone by the time I was born (1952). I only recall two: Charlie Hing Laundry on Park Street and Sam Lee Laundry on Ontario Avenue. The former was across the street from my home (226 Park St.) and the latter was a bit of curiosity because it had the same name as my father, even though he was not involved with it. Ontario Avenue intersecting Park -- a block deviation from my mother-approved school route -- was known only because my mother would take me to visit there.


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