Chinatown

The first Chinatown of Toronto existed in the 1890s within Toronto's Ward district along York Street and Elizabeth Street in The Ward. In its heyday during the early 1920s, Toronto’s original Chinatown centered at the Elizabeth and Dundas intersection.

History
The first Chinese immigrant to open a business in Toronto was Sam Ching. His Chinese laundry opened in 1878 at 9 Adelaide St. E.

More than 15,000 Chinese labourers came to Canada between 1880 and 1885 to help build the Canadian Pacific Railway's expansion to the West. Mostly men, they settled near Front Street before moving north along York Street.

By 1910, the Toronto's Chinese population numbered over a thousand. The early immigrants from China came from a small area in southern China near Canton City and in Guangdong Province, from a single district, Toisan. Due to entry employment resistance, the Chinese of Toronto were restricted to the labour in food service and washing laundry. During this time, hundreds of Chinese-owned businesses had developed– restaurants, grocery stores, and hand laundries mainly. The early 1920s were said to be the most active years of the traditional clan, district and political associations. The year 1923 saw the peak growth of Toronto's Chinatown and the Immigration Act which prohibited further Chinese immigration to Canada.