explore pioneer square
Welcome to the Original Seattle Neighborhood – rich in history, arts, culture, and food!
Notice the traditional third-story balcony on the Chin Gee Hee building on S Washington St. Chin Gee Hee immigrated from China and eventually moved to Seattle in 1873 to become a partner in the Wa Chong Company, a labor contractor that imported men from China to work in logging camps, coal mines, and canneries, and to help build streets and railroads. In 1886, Chinese immigrants were forced out of the city onto boats down S Washington St to the waterfront, known as the Chinese Expulsion. Chin Gee Hee stayed and the Chinese community quickly returned with demand for labor from the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. Seattle’s early Chinatown originally extended throughout Pioneer Square, centered on S Washington St. Starting in about 1910, after the Jackson Street regrade lowered the area east of 4th Ave S, many Chinese started relocating to what is now the present Chinatown/International District.
