Old Photographs of Daily Life in Manhattan's Chinatown From the 1900s

Manhattan's Chinatown is a neighborhood in Manhattan that is home to the largest enclave of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere. Its location is in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, bordering Lower East Side to its east, Little Italy to its north, Civic Center to its south, and Tribeca to its west.

Faced with increasing racial discrimination and new laws which prevented participation in many occupations on the West Coast, some Chinese immigrants moved to the East Coast cities in search of employment. Early businesses in these cities included hand laundries and restaurants. Chinatown started on Mott, Park (now Mosco), Pell, and Doyers Streets, east of the notorious Five Points district. By 1870, there was a Chinese population of 200. By the time the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was passed, the population was up to 2,000 residents. In 1900, the US Census reported 7,028 Chinese males in residence, but only 142 Chinese women. This significant gender inequality remained present until the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943.

Doyers Street or 'the Bloody Angle' in the 1900s.

Elevated Railroad Station at Chatham Square in the 1880s.

Port Arthur Chinese Restuarant, at 7-9 Mott Street, circa the 1900s, one of the first banquet halls of Chinatown.

Church of the Transfiguration on Mott Street in Manhattan, circa 1900s.

Mulberry Street and Columbus Park

Chinese theater, Doyers Street, Manhattan, circa 1900.

Chinese Tuxedo Restaurant, Doyers Street

Casual posing at the opening of Doyers Street, circa 1900.

Sunday school after a visit to Chatham Square, showing Chinese children lined up by size.

Store front of Quong Yee Wo & Co., Chinatown, circa 1903.