Postcard Memories is a weekly series of historic postcard views and photos submitted by René Hackstetter.
Picking through the bookstore one day, I found this interesting pamphlet entitled Enduring Hardship - The Chinese Laundry In Canada by Ben Seng Hoe.
Published by the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Ben Seng Hoe’s account is a glimpse into the histories, experiences and first-hand accounts of the Chinese Laundrymen.
Accounts concerning the Chinese population in Midland are slim, George Osborne only mentioning that Nickerson’s little, white building on the northwest corner of King Street and Hugel Avenue “finally housed a Chinese laundry.”
We might not know the name of this enterprise except for a JW Bald’s photo from the early 1900s of King Street being torn up for sewer pipes. In the background is the little white building and there is his sign “Best Laundry Lee Kee!”
Osborne mentions that the original post office, founded in 1871 and used as such until 1900, when “a brick building was erected adjoining, now the Capitol Theatre.” This is the building below the sign that reads Grand Cafe. It may be Sam Lee standing proudly in front of his vehicle. Next door, barely visible, is Soo Sing’s Laundry.
An elderly friend told me that shopping on King Street in the thirties filled her with fear when passing the Chinese Laundry. Had she read too many Sax Rohmer stories? We will never know. Little did she realize the suffering and deprivation these hardy Chinese pioneers experienced.
Put Enduring Hardship on your reading list!
Copyright. René Hackstetter March 21, 2020
