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As a part of its ongoing Eureka Chinatown Project, Humboldt Asians and Pacific Islanders in Solidarity (HAPI) is working to construct a memorial near the waterfront in Old Town, in hopes of furthering its efforts to educate people on the history of Chinese people in our area and the violent Chinese Expulsion of 1885. 

The Eureka Chinatown Monument, as it will be called, is planned for the corner of E and First Streets on a patch of city-owned property that borders a parking lot. Amy Uyeki, member of the HAPI steering committee and head of the Eureka Chinatown Monument committee, told the Outpost that, after touring several potential sites identified by the City of Eureka, HAPI chose this site, in part, because of its proximity to what used to be Eureka’s Chinatown neighborhood. 

“It seemed perfect,” Uyeki said in a phone interview on Wednesday. “Chinatown was not just limited to Fourth, Fifth and E and F [Streets], but was more spread out. … There were many Chinese businesses on First [Street], and then the warehouses where they put the Chinese people before they shipped them out to San Francisco are right on the waterfront. So, it’s really significant.” 

The monument design includes a Chinese moon gate – a large, round archway that is a traditional architectural element used in many Chinese gardens. Uyeki said that the archway is meant to separate spaces, allowing people who walk through it to go “from one realm to another.” Additional plants and trees will be added to the surrounding space, including a ginkgo tree and a Chinese magnolia. Around the edge of the monument there will also be signs that display a poem written by Daryl Chinn .

The memorial will also include a river design, with stone markers popping out of it – each marker representing a significant point in the history of the Chinese people in Eureka, and illustrating the increases and declines in the local Chinese population throughout the decades. 

The first marker will represent when the Chinese came here in 1865, Uyeki explained, and the next shows 1885, when the Chinese population grew to one-tenth of the population of Eureka. Then after the expulsion, there was virtually no Chinese population. The last and tallest stone marker, Uyeki said, represents the present day and also the future. 

“It’s aspirational,” Uyeki said. “It’s a hope that there will be more diversity and more welcoming people from different areas and what they can contribute to the richness of this area.” 

HAPI has already completed several public projects bringing attention to the history of Eureka’s Chinatown neighborhood and the horrific Chinese Expulsion, including renaming the alley between Fourth and Fifth and E and F Streets “Charlie Moon Way,” in honor of Eureka’s legendary Chinese immigrant, and the addition of a large, colorful mural along the alley. The group has also hosted many walking tours through the historical neighborhood.  

Once the memorial is complete, Uyeki said, future tours will be able to start at the mural and end at the memorial. In the future, HAPI also plans to raise funds to install informational signage throughout Old Town, so that people will be able to do their own walking tour. 

With the project still in the early stages, it’s hard for Uyeki to predict when the memorial will actually be complete, but she said that HAPI is hoping to break ground on the project by the summer of 2024. HAPI is currently trying to raise all the funds it needs for the project, accepting donations on its website and through a GoFundMe campaign started last week. So far, Uyeki said, HAPI has raised about $125,000, half of its $250,000 goal. 

Uyeki added that she is very excited about the memorial, which she hopes will help beautify the area as well as educate tourists and locals about a part of our local history that has often been overlooked. 

“We want children growing up here to know the story,” Uyeki said. “I’m excited that there has been so much community support and municipal support that the city’s been very generous with their time and has also been enthusiastic about the project.”