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The Chong Lee Laundromat Located on Principale Street, Circa 1928–1930

Black-and-white photograph of a gravel road where a car and a carriage are driving. People are walking on the boardwalks. The buildings have boomtown-styled fronts. A sign reads, Chong Lee Laundry Buanderie.

Date: Circa 1928-1930

Credits: BAnQ Rouyn-Noranda, Xstrata Cuivre Canada funds, Fonderie Horne, Vavasour & Dick series. 08Y,P123,S1,P47.

The laundromat on the left in the photo was owned by Chong Lee, an Asian immigrant. Many immigrants from Asia settled in the sister cities in the late 1920s: they were about 60 in 1931 and 118 in 1941. Most of them worked in trade. Some of them were Laundromat owners, just as Chong Lee, but most of them worked in the food service industry. They owned the Hollywood Café, the Paris Café, the Royal Café and the Radio Grill.