In Riverside, California, the city's historic Chinatown has been selected by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as a finalist in the 2011 This Place Matters Community Challenge, competing with sites from across the country for three cash awards (top prize: $25,000).Winners will be determined by public online vote through the month of June, and will be announced on July 1. You can vote for Chinatown just once throughout the challenge. Here's some more information and background on the historical significant of Riverside's Chinatown:
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990, Riverside’s historic Chinatown dates back to 1885. It was the central residential and commercial hub for Chinese immigrants working in Southern California’s agricultural fields, notably in the citrus industry, and is the last remaining and best preserved early Chinese settlement site in the U.S. An archaeological investigation of the site in the 1980's resulted in the recovery of thousands of artifacts, the production of a two-volume research report, and a major museum exhibition. Since 2008, the Save Our Chinatown Committee has led community-based efforts to protect the site from inappropriate development.If Riverside's historic Chinatown is awarded a prize in this competition, funds will support efforts to preserve the archaeological remains for future academic study and create a Chinatown Memorial Park. If you believe Chinatown is a place that matters, vote now here.
Choose Chinatown! For further information about Riverside's historic Chinatown, go to the Save Our Chinatown Committee website here, and follow updates to the campaign on Facebook here.
