Main Street Merchants: The Lost Chinese Stores of The Dalles, Oregon

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Diverse and Enduring: Archaeology from Across the Asian Diaspora" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries The Dalles, Oregon was home to a small but thriving Chinese Diaspora community. This community eventually coalesced into a single block near the center of town fronting Main Street. In this neighborhood, the Chinese merchandise store arose as a profitable venture designed to benefit multiple partners by providing a variety of goods and services to the local Chinese community, and the larger community as a whole. Historical research and archaeological excavations associated with the redevelopment of this block, detailed in this presentation, have begun to illuminate the lives and contributions of this nearly forgotten community, a community that persisted in spite of restrictive local, state, and federal laws, rules, and regulations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Diverse and Enduring: Archaeology from Across the Asian Diaspora   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology