Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, Portland波特兰中华会馆

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

United States · Oregon · Portland · 315 NW Davis Street, within the Portland New Chinatown–Japantown Historic District

First built

1911 · The association hall was built in 1911 with funds raised by the Chinese community; it underwent a major renovation in the 1980s

Heritage status

Within the boundaries of the "Portland New Chinatown/Japantown Historic District" on the National Register of Historic Places

Overview

The building of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA), Portland, was built in 1911 with funds raised by the local Chinese community, and is one of the best-preserved Chinese community-association buildings surviving in the Pacific Northwest. The CCBA system originated from the "Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association" headquarters in San Francisco (commonly known as the Six Companies), formed by the union of native-place associations from various counties and districts; during the era of the Chinese Exclusion Act it took on functions such as representing the overseas Chinese community in external negotiations, internal arbitration, running schools, providing funeral assistance, and performing seasonal rites, and its association halls generally housed a shrine. Whether this association's building had a shrine, and which deity it enshrined, are not clearly recorded in the publicly available literature, and this entry makes no inference about them. The hall remains active today; its fourth floor houses the Pacific Northwest Chinese heritage museum, and it runs a Chinese-language school on weekends. The building lies within the "Portland New Chinatown–Japantown Historic District," listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Highlights

• Built in 1911, one of the best-preserved Chinese community-association buildings surviving in the Pacific Northwest
• The CCBA system's community functions during the Chinese Exclusion Act era
• Fourth floor houses the Pacific Northwest Chinese heritage museum