Day 300: Oregon Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association Building, Portland, Oregon

📌APIA Every Day (300) - The Oregon Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA) Building was constructed in 1911 in Portland’s New Chinatown District (APIA Every Day 33). Like other CCBA branches across the nation, the Oregon organization was committed to fighting discrimination against Chinese community members and businesses. As a major governing body in Chinatown, the CCBA managed the district’s primary social, educational, and political affairs. The Oregon CCBA building has served as the organization’s headquarters for over a century and has remained a central institution in Portland’s Chinatown from its founding to present day. 

Eight years after the first CCBA was formally established in San Francisco, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of Portland formed circa 1890. One of the organization’s earliest initiatives was the creation of the Portland Chinese Language School in 1901—a program that still exists today. As the CCBA grew, community members formed the Chinese Conservative Investment Company in 1910 to raise funds for a new association space. The following year, the Company successfully purchased an empty lot and Chinese laborers constructed the present four-story CCBA Building. Over the next few decades, the building took on the role of an informal city hall and became an important gathering space for the Chinese community. During this era, the president of the CCBA was often referred to as the “Mayor of Chinatown.”

In the 1970s, the CCBA began raising funds for the building’s renovation to update the existing facilities. Around the same time, the organization established the Chinatown Development Committee to help revitalize the entire district. Between 1979 and 1981, the CCBA Building was restored with donations from the Republic of China and the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office. With its updated headquarters, the CCBA and Portland Development Commission turned their attention to reviving Chinatown: installing Chinese street signs, decorative lamp posts, and a Chinese Gateway in the neighborhood during the 1980s. 

Recognizing the importance of the CCBA Building in the development of Portland's Chinese community, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Portland New Chinatown/Japantown Historic District in 1989. More than a century after its establishment, the Oregon CCBA continues to support the local Chinese community while also promoting greater appreciation for the Chinatown district. The upper floors of the CCBA Building now house an English-Chinese library and a museum, welcoming visitors to explore the history of Chinese Americans in the area.

Written by Avneet Dhaliwal

LEARN MORE

National Park Service: Oregon Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association Building NRHP Form

National Park Service: Portland New Chinatown/Japantown Historic District

CCBA History - Oregon Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association

CCBA Language School - Oregon Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association’

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