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Newark’s Forgotten Chinatown
For years I have read about the Chinese community of the early 20th century in Newark, NJ. Some writings state that it was bigger than Chinatown New York at the time.
Is that so?
Note: Watch the excellent YouTube video linked at the bottom of the page.
REPLY
No, it wasn't bigger than New York's Chinatown, but Newark did have a remarkably large and vibrant Chinese community in the late 19th and early 20th century — far larger than most people today realize — but the claim that it was bigger than New York’s Chinatown is not supported by the historical record. What is true is that Newark’s Chinatown was one of the earliest and most significant Chinese enclaves on the East Coast, and for a time it grew faster and was more stable than many outsiders expected.
Below is a clear, evidencebased picture of what historians know.
Newark’s Chinatown: What the Records Show
Origins
The first Chinese residents in Newark came from Belleville, which hosted the first Chinese community on the East Coast.
Chinese businesses began appearing in Newark in the late 1800s, especially along Mulberry Street.
Population Size
By the 1920s, Newark’s Chinatown had over 3,000 Chinese residents.
This made it one of the largest Chinese communities in New Jersey and a significant East Coast enclave.
Comparison with New York’s Chinatown
New York’s Chinatown, however, was much larger during the same period. Historical estimates place NYC’s Chinese population at 7,000–10,000+ by 1910, growing rapidly afterward.
So, while Newark’s community was important, early, and unusually concentrated, it was not larger than New York’s.
What Newark’s Chinatown Looked Like
Location
Centered on Mulberry Street, between Elm and Lafayette.
Included a unique feature: Mulberry Arcade, a narrow lane of shops and housing built in 1910. 
Community Life
- Businesses: laundries, restaurants, import shops.
- Social institutions: churches, family associations, and community organizations.
- The enclave was tightknit and visually distinct, with illuminated signs and dense housing.
Challenges
- The 1920s brought federal opium raids, which destabilized the community and pushed many residents to leave.
- Violence also touched the area, including an assassination attempt on gang figure Sai Wing Mock.
Decline
- By the 1950s, Mulberry Arcade was demolished.
- Suburban migration and redevelopment erased most physical traces of the enclave.
Today, almost nothing remains on the ground.
Modern Research & Rediscovery
Much of what we know today comes from the work of Yoland Skeete, who led the Newark Chinatown History Project in the 1990s. Her research uncovered:
- immigration files from the Chinese Exclusion Act era
- oral histories
- photographs from the 1920s–1960s
- archaeological artifacts from the neighborhood
These materials are preserved in the Yoland Skeete Research Files on Newark Chinatown at NYU’s Tamiment Library.
Her book When Newark Had a Chinatown is the most comprehensive modern account.
Summary
Newark’s Chinatown was large, early, and historically significant.
It reached 3,000+ residents by the 1920s.
It was not larger than New York’s Chinatown,
but it was one of the major East Coast Chinese communities of its era.
Its disappearance was so complete that it required archival and archaeological reconstruction decades later.