The Town of Locke - Walnut Grove, California

DATE:  July 12, 2015

HISTORICAL SITE:  The Town Of Locke

LOCATION:  13920 Main St., Walnut Grove, Sacramento Co., CA

MARKER #:  71000174

DEDICATED:  May 6, 1971

"Locke   Founded in 1912, by Tin Sin Chan, on this site. This unique Chinese community grew rapidly after a fire destroyed the Chinese section of Walnut Grove in 1915. At one time, the town had a population of 1,500, with a theater, hotel, school, church, nine grocery stores, six restaurants, a bakery, lodge and post office. The entire town is Chinese architecture and the original buildings are still standing. Locke residents contributed greatly to the development of levees in the Sacramento Delta"

MARKER PLACED BY:  Dedicated by the Sacramento County Historical Society

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS: 

樂居 or 乐居 = Locke

It is said that Locke is the only truly Chinese enclave left in the United States.

When we lived in the town of Hood, we were only 12 miles away from Locke, but go there and it's a total different world, almost a different era.

I took Dirk because Locke had always been a bit of a mysterious place. There were very few inhabitants and it seemed as though the ones there didn't really want to deal with "outsiders".

The few times I was there, I would often catch glimpses of some movement in alleyways between the buildings but when I would stop and really look, no one was there.

So I took Dirk thinking we wouldn't be there very long, but oh boy...Locke has changed!

Open for the public is a renovated lodging house with a museum. The schoolhouse and gambling house have been cleaned up and are open as they were in Locke's heyday.

 

Finally, money has come to the rescue of Locke!

The Swampland Reclamation Act of 1861 was designed to drain swamp areas, build levies and protect the Sacramento area from flooding. Mostly poor Chinese, being paid less than a dollar a day, stood in swampy water, risking malaria, and built hundreds of miles of levees and reclaimed 88,000 acres. Those acres were to become some of the most fertile land in California.

In 1912, three Chinese merchants asked the land owner, George Locke, if they could build on his land. They built a dry goods store/beer hall, a gambling establishment and a hotel/restaurant.

And we had the beginnings of a town. The town was called Lockeport after the owner.

These 3 merchants could have bought the land but this was the time of the "California Alien Land Law" and the Chinese weren't allowed to own any land.

A total of 7 buildings became the town of Lockeport, including a bordello. Although it had been hoped that Lockeport would become a riverboat and train destination, the discrimination against the Chinese was too much to overcome

In 1915, the Chinese area of nearby Walnut Grove burnt to the ground and a lot of the Chinese moved to Lockeport.

Finally, the Chinese found somewhere in the U.S. where they were more or less left alone and could find good steady, although seasonal, work.

The population ebbed and flowed based on the growing and harvest seasons. As many as 1,500 people lived in Locke when there was work in the fields...a migrant population. And the town welcomed them by providing all the lodging, stores and entertainment desired.

During the 1940's and 1950's, the Chinese community, becoming better educated, started moving out of these small towns and into the cities. It was the death to many of these communities, but Locke tried to hold on. Time moves on, the younger people move and the older people pass and Locke was disintegrating before their eyes.

In 1977, a Hong Kong business man bought the town from the heirs of George Locke. The idea was to build a few new houses in the area and to make Locke a tourist destination, of sorts.

They were stymied by the people. People wanted Locke back but not at the cost that was becoming clear. And they were stymied by the fact that the town was on the National Register of Historic Places, which really limits how things can be renovated or improved.

While they tried to get the Chinese to rebuild their buildings, very few were interested in sinking money into the buildings they owned on land that someone else did.

Locke was given the designation of a National Historic Landmark District in 1990.

Discouraged, the Hong Kong business man finally sold the land and town to the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency and in turn, the land was sold to the people who owned the buildings on top of it.

The modest changes we saw have been brought about by that Agency, along with the people in Locke. There is a small memorial section dedicated to "in the memory of the industrious Chinese pioneers of California whose strength and sacrifice helped build the transcontinental railroad, construct the levees of the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta, and developed agriculture in the Central Valley. With determination and perseverance the Chinese built the town of Locke and continue to shape California".

 

While there are signs of life now, there is plenty of decay left. When Dirk and I got to the end of Main Street, we turned down another area. The road was unpaved and although people still live there, most of the houses were in various stages of falling apart and the smell was unpleasant.

Currently, about 75 people live in Locke. Of those 75, only about 10 are Chinese.

Interesting article written in the 80's about Locke.