Looking to escape the anti-Chinese violence that had broken out on the west coast, the first Chinese people arrived in Chicago after 1869 when the First transcontinental railroad was completed.

[4] Aside from ethnic violence, governments on the west coast had begun to systematically target Chinese people, such as a 1870 San Francisco ordinance that taxed laundrymen who used horseless wagons for their deliveries.

[5] This discrimination on the west coast, in tandem with poor economic conditions at the time, led to intense Chinese migration to other areas of the United States.

[9] In the mid-1870s, the Kim Kee Company opened a store selling imported Chinese goods and ingredients, and in the basement of the same building stood a Chinese-owned restaurant.

[12] Further, grocery stores in Chinatown could double as a cultural center, where people would gamble, consume rice wine, and smoke cigars.

[19] The prevalence of just a few surnames reflects the phenomenon of chain migration and the continuing propensity of transnational ties that existed early on within Chinatown.

In terms of ties to mainland China, the large majority of the early Chinese people in Chicago were from Taishan, such as influential merchants Chin Foin and Moy Dong Chow.

[25] The Tong Wars would continue for the next several decades, with Chicago and Chinatown constantly preparing for another outbreak of violence.

[31][32] Largely, however, the move was a result of multiple factors including racial prejudice, cultural bias, and economic competition.

[36] In addition, the On Leong Merchants Association purchased a series of ten year leases to develop the surrounding area.

[38] This discrimination was a continuation of tensions that were present before the move south, when non-Chinese residents fearing a "yellow invasion" sought to block Chinese people buying property in Armour Square.

In 1919, a visit to Chinatown by Wang Chen Wei, the right hand man of the Republic’s first president Sun Yat-sen, produced a large parade with many Republican banners flying.

[18] In the 1920s, Chinese community leaders secured approximately 50 ten-year leases on properties in the newly developing Chinatown.

[29] Jim Moy, then-director of the On Leong Merchants Association, then decided that a Chinese-style building should be constructed as a strong visual announcement of the Chinese community's new presence in the area.

[41][44][45] When the building opened in 1928 at a cost of a million dollars, it was the finest large Chinese-style structure in any North American Chinatown.

For example, the Moy-owned Hip Lung Yee Kee company on Wentworth Avenue facilitated communication between associations in San Francisco, Chicago, and Hong Kong.

For example, Mong Long Fo's restaurant was the site of a publicized meeting between two members of the Moy clan and three of Chicago's white elite.

The majority of Chinatown's residents were poorly-educated immigrants who made their livings through low-skill, manual labor or through restaurant-related work.

While it only occupied the building starting in the 1920s, the local branch of the association played an active role in the 1911 revolution that founded the Chinese Republic.

Additional residential construction, such as the Santa Fe Gardens, a 600-unit village of townhouses, condominiums and single-family homes was developed on formerly industrial land to the north.

In 1990, about 10,000 Chinese people lived in Chinatown's business district and the area south of 26th Street; several Italian Americans still remained in the neighborhood.

[60] The United States Postal Service operates the Chinatown Post Office at 2345 South Wentworth Avenue.

[71] A 1942 article from the Chicago Tribune stated that the strong family ties among the residents of Chinatown meant that there was little juvenile delinquency present in the community.

[72] Chicago Chinatown celebrates the founding of the Republic of China with the Double Ten Parade,[54] which includes lion dances and much display of the flag of Taiwan.

[54] Chicago Chinatown also celebrates the National Day of the People's Republic of China with members of the PRC consulate.

The Red Line, the CTA's busiest transit route, stops 24/7 at the Cermak–Chinatown station located in the heart of Chinatown near the corner of Cermak Road and Wentworth Avenue.