Pachappa Camp

Pachappa Camp (also known as Dosan's Republic) was founded in 1904 and is one of the earliest significant Korean settlements established in the United States.

Located in downtown Riverside, California, the original address of the site was 1532 Pachappa Avenue but has since been changed to 3096 Cottage Street.

[3] On March 23, 2017, the Riverside City Council designated the Pachappa Camp site as a "Point of Cultural Interest.

[5] Dosan and his wife, Helen Ahn, first arrived in San Francisco in 1902 to study Christianity and the English language but faced barriers finding employment due to anti-Asian sentiment in the area.

Dosan and Helen moved to Riverside in 1904, with encouragement from two Korean friends who worked on citrus farms there and spoke of plentiful job openings.

Rumsey's loan was paid back within two months as more Korean immigrants moved to Riverside and found work.

These buildings were originally constructed in the 1880s for Chinese workers who built the Santa Fe Railroad and were maintained in poor condition thereafter.

During harvest time, Korean women also worked at local packinghouses to help pack boxes of citrus fruit.

The association established behavioral guidelines for the Pachappa residents in an effort to maintain cohesion and instill "positive virtues": lights were to be turned off at 9:00pm, Korean women were prohibited from smoking long pipes in the street, residents were not to go outside in undershirts, and white shirts were encouraged whenever possible to give off a "clean appearance."

Headquartered in San Francisco, the KNA provided help to Koreans newly arriving in the mainland United States.

[2] With concerns surrounding the already strained U.S.-Japan relations (e.g., from the 1913 California Alien Land Law), Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan ordered an investigation into the matter.

The memorial is located at 3750 Main Street in downtown Riverside and consists of stamped and colored concrete and landscaping granite, as well as a statue of Dosan.

According to Riverside's Historic Preservation Officer, city officials spent six months researching the legitimacy of Pachappa Camp as the United States' first Korean settlement, using documented records of births, deaths, and social activities.