Arcadia Publishing Inc : 7152 books

In 1884, a Japanese sailor named Hamanosuke Shigeta made his way to the eastern section of downtown Los Angeles and opened Little Tokyo�s first business, an American-style caf�. By the early 20th century, this neighborhood on the banks of the Los Angeles River had developed into a vibrant community...

Koreans first began to immigrate to Chicago at the turn of the 20th century. Drawn to the Windy City in search of a better life for themselves and their families, Korean Americans quickly began to establish what has become a thriving community that remains active and distinct. For the past 100 years,...

In 1857, Alla Lee, a 24yearold native of Ningbo, China, seeking a better life, came to St. Louis. A decade later, Lee was joined by several hundred of his countrymen from San Francisco and New York who were seeking jobs in mines and factories in and around St. Louis. Most of these Chinese workers lived...

A 1.48-square-mile piece of unincorporated Los Angeles County when it was annexed by the City of Los Angeles in 1922, tiny Sawtelle has lived very large in the hearts and minds of Japanese Americans. Their homes, livelihoods, religions, businesses, language, and other ethnocentric and social involvements...

Filipino immigrants came to Ventura County in the 1920s, beginning American lives mostly as farm laborers in work camps, notably the Arneill Ranch and Springville Ranch in Camarillo. They organized early societies like the Filipino Brotherhood Association of Ventura County, the Jordan Lodge 604 Legionarios...

Oakland�s Chinatown has a history every bit as compelling as its more famous neighbor across San Francisco Bay. Chinese have been a presence in Oakland since the 1850s, bringing with them a rich and complex tradition that survived legalized discrimination that lingered until the 1950s. Once confined...

Chinese pioneers in the Sacramento River Delta were the vital factor in reclaiming land and made significant contributions to California�s agricultural industry from farming to canning. Since the 1860s, Chinese were already settled in the delta and created Chinatowns in and between the two towns of...

Situated between Atlanta and Athens, Walton County has always been a stronghold of the cotton industry. While some of the largest cotton crops in the world have emerged from its fertile fields, a strong community and storied history have come to define the county. Recognized as the site of America's...

The roots of community theater can be traced back to before the Revolutionary War. In the years that followed, many towns throughout America were fortunate to have both professional and amateur acting companies. The evolution of the moving picture forced many of these professional theaters to close their...

Salt Lake City, located along Utah's majestic Wasatch Mountains, has historically been a cradle of peculiar people. Before Western culture developed terms for lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) identities, diverse communities who recognized their differences from mainstream America made...

Muncy, a small river town founded shortly after the French and Indian War, was the earliest European settlement in the West Branch Valley of the Susquehanna River. By 1769, land speculator Samuel Wallis had acquired more than 7,000 acres, so he sold much of this land to pioneers in search of a better...

Dating back to 1882, the Altoona and Logan Valley Electric Railway has humble origins, but it quickly became a viable transportation system serving the city of Altoona. Often referred to as the Logan Valley, the railway employed 300 people, transported 11.5 million passengers a year, and traveled 7,220...

Whitestone was named after a large limestone boulder found in 1645 by the Dutch on the virtually flat seashore. The Dutch recognized the great potential to establish the town as a major trading port due to its location by the East River. They purchased the town from the Matinecock tribe, who had been...

In the summer of 1854, the Brooklyn City Railroad opened four separate streetcar lines. The lines were introduced here several years before they were brought to larger cities, such as Baltimore, Boston, and Philadelphia, demonstrating the city�s modernization and ingenuity. From its first introduction,...