Chinese Workers Arrive in North Adams
On this day in 1870, a train arrived in North Adams with 75 young men from China hired to replace striking shoe workers. Over 2,000 people watched as the men walked to the factory under police escort. The crowd was hostile, but there was no violence. The Chinese proved to be both cheaper and more efficient than the union shoe workers they replaced. But a Chinese community did not take root in Berkshire County. Within a decade, only five Chinese men remained in North Adams. Small numbers of Chinese could be found living in other Bay State cities, but Boston was the only place in Massachusetts to develop a real Chinatown. For over half a century, the population of Chinatown was almost entirely male.
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