History of Chinese Americans in St. Louis

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Ethnic groups in St. Louis

Greater St. Louis has a Chinese community.

The first Chinese immigrant to St. Louis was Alla Lee, a 24-year-old from Ningbo who arrived in 1857.[1] He socialized with the Irish American community and married an Irish woman. He sold coffee and tea in a shop on North Tenth Street.[2]

Around 1867, several hundred Chinese looking for work in factories and mines in and around St. Louis moved there from New York and San Francisco. The community they settled, Hop Alley, became St. Louis' Chinatown.[2]

This community disappeared in 1966 when it was demolished to make room for a parking lot for Busch Stadium.[2] Many Chinese Americans moved to St. Louis's Missouri suburbs,[3] where they founded Chinese-language schools and Chinese churches and community organizations.[4]

  1. ^ "1857: The First Chinese in St. Louis". Chinese-American Museum of Chicago. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  2. ^ a b c Ling, Huping, Chinese St. Louis, p. 1 (Archive).
  3. ^ Ling, Huping, Chinese St. Louis, p. 1-2 (Archive).
  4. ^ Ling, Huping, "Cultural Community: A New Model for Asian American Community," [sic] p. 146.