East Kong Yick Building
The East Kong Yick Building (Chinese: 東公益大廈; pinyin: Dōng Jūn Yì Dàshà; Jyutping: Dung1 Gwan1 Jik1 Daai6haa6) is one of two buildings erected in Seattle, Washington's Chinatown-International District ("the ID") by the Kong Yick Investment Company (the other being the West Kong Yick Building). A four-story hotel in the core of the ID, with retail stores at ground level, the East Kong Yick was created by the pooled resources of 170 Chinese American pioneers. In, 2008, the building reopened as the home of the expanded Wing Luke Asian Museum.
In 1910 Goon Dip, a prominent businessman in Seattle's Chinese American community, led a group of Chinese American pioneers to form the Kong Yick Investment Company. [The name of the company, Kong Yick (公益) loosely means "mutual benefit."] With no financial backing from a bank, the investment company pooled money from approximately 170 Chinese American community members to fund the construction of two twin buildings that would serve as the anchor of a "new" Chinatown.
Members of the investment company lived not only in Seattle but throughout the Pacific Northwest, making the Kong Yick Buildings a landmark for the Chinese community.
Chin Chun Hock, who arrived in Seattle in 1860, established the Wa Chong Company (華昌, "Chinese Prosperity") in 1868 with partner Woo Gen. The company recruited labor and imported goods from East Asia. When Chinatown relocated to its current location, Wa Chong reopened at 717 King St., now (2010) the Welcome Hall in the new Wing Luke Asian Museum. Next door, Chin Gee Hee operated the Quong Tuck Company, another of the multi-purpose mercantiles selling wholesale and retail import goods, as well as supplying contract labor to canneries, mills and other industrial concerns. Since 2008 the former location of Quong Tuck houses the reconstructed Yick Fung Mercantile exhibit. The Yick Fung Company (益豐號) formerly operated at 705 King St in the West Kong Yick Building from 1910 to 2008.
...
Wikipedia