Chinatown, Newark, New Jersey

Newark's Chinatown was an unincorporated community and neighborhood within the city of Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. It was an ethnic enclave with a large percentage of Chinese immigrants, centered along Market Street from 1875 and remaining on some scale for nearly one hundred years. The center of the neighborhood was directly east of the Government Center neighborhood. The first Chinese businesses appeared in Newark in the second half of the 19th century and in the early part of the 20th century. By the 1920s, the small area had a Chinese population of over 3000.[1]

Newark Chinatown
Neighborhood of Newark
Coordinates: 40.72422°N 74.172574°W / 40.72422; -74.172574
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Essex County
City	Newark
ZIP Code	07102
Area code(s)	Area code 973

1910-era map of ethnic enclaves in Newark, New Jersey

In 1910, a small lane with housing and shopping was built called Mulberry Arcade, connecting Mulberry Street and Columbia Street between Lafayette and Green Streets. In the 1920s, recurring federal opium raids[2] disrupted the community, causing many to move to more peaceful places. Despite an attempt to revive the neighborhood decades later, the Mulberry Arcade (the center of Chinatown) was removed in the 1950s. A 21st century project in the area is called Mulberry Commons.

Today there is barely any sign that a Chinatown existed in the neighborhood, and only a small Chinese population remains. There is a Chinese restaurant on Lafayette Street and another on Green St. Nearby, the Sumei Multidisciplinary Arts Center on Liberty Street, in an old factory in the Chinatown neighborhood, exhibits arts from various world cultures.