KCR Building recognized as last original building of Nelson's Chinatown.

The KCR building is the last structure left of Nelson's original Chinatown.

308A Hall Street in Nelson, the current studio of your local community radio station, Kootenay Co-op Radio, is the last original building of Nelson’s Chinatown and was once home to the Sing Chong Laundry.

Built in the early 1900s, this was one of many Chinese laundries in Nelson’s Chinatown – then the largest Chinatown in BC Interior.

The Sing Chong Laundry 成昌洗衣館 was owned and operated by Sam Jay 謝禮彦, a local laundryman for 50 years who paid the $500 Head Tax on arrival in 1911. His business partner was Der Bing Soon 謝永成. They ran the laundry until the early 1960s

With the help of Melody Yun Ya Ma from Foundation for Chinese Dignity 華人尊嚴會, Dr. Yao Xiao from UBC, Tressa Ford from Nelson Museum, Archives & Gallery, and Tim Jay, Darwin Der, and Fred Wah, there will soon be a permanent sign on the building acknowledging this story and its place in Nelson’s history.