China Alley - Fresno, CA
Posted by: fresgo
N 36° 43.798 W 119° 47.604
11S E 250549 N 4068555
1535 Kern Street, Fresno, CA 93706-3382
Waymark Code: WMBFWR
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 05/16/2011
Views: 4
Located behind Central Fish Market. The marker commemorates China Alley in
Chinatown. Fresno's Chinatown was and is as much German, Basque, Mexican, and Italian as it was an enclave of the Chinese community and vestiges of multiculturalism are found everywhere. A video of the clampers setting the marker is
here.
The text reads:
In 1874 600 people moved to what is now Fresno. Of those, 200 were
Chinese, who made the brick and helped start the building of Fresno.
A short time later, they were persuaded to settle west of the train
tracks. They built an area of shops, which catered to all ethnic
backgrounds. It was a thriving area that offered goods, services,
and "entertainment" day and night. It was the cosmopolitan area of
Fresno for many years and to this day this area still has influence on
the city. The brick used here came from an eighty-plus year-old
church torn down in the 1970's and is thought to have
been made by the Chinese settlers.
Dedicated February 11, 2006
E Clampus Vitus
Jim Savage Chapter 1852