Search

Heritage Tours:

Search for a tour by category:

Search site:

string(50) "https://revisitwa.org/wp-content/themes/revisitwa/"

Canton Building (#03)

Chinese American pioneer Chin Gee Hee built the first brick building in Seattle after the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. The structure, now known as the Canton Building, housed his Quong Tuck Company, a general store that served as headquarters for his labor contracting operation. Although its façade has changed over the years, the building is considered the last vestige of Seattle’s earlier Chinatown.

Images

Emblazoned at its peak, reads, “CANTON BUILDING 1894.” Just eight years after the 1886 Seattle anti-Chinese riots and expulsion, businesses like the Man Hop and Company Merchandise, Yoot Hong Restaurant, and Me Wah & Company Merchandise were back, in proud declaration of a community that would not be deterred. Wing Luke Museum Collection 1991.100.507.