HistoryLink Tours

Look across the street to the east, into the Chinatown International District neighborhood, and you can’t miss the Historic Chinatown Gate. Chinese immigrants started settling in Seattle in the 1860s, first on the waterfront, then along Washington Street and 2nd Avenue S, and finally to King Street, where Chinatown is centered today. Along with Japantown, Little Saigon, and historic Filipino Town, Chinatown is one of the neighborhoods within the Chinatown International District.

Not all Chinatowns in the U.S. have a gate, and Seattle’s is a relatively recent feature of the neighborhood’s history. The local Chinese community worked on planning the gate for 50 years before it was dedicated in 2008. Led by Tuck Eng, the Historic Chinatown Gate Foundation, a nonprofit of community leaders, helped raise $500,000 to build it.

Photo by Ronn CM Creative. Courtesy SCIDpda