Documented: For 100 Years, This Chinatown Church Has Helped Chinese Immigrants Build New Lives in New York
First kindergarten in NYC Chinatown created by the First Chinese Baptist Church. Photo credit: The First Chinese Baptist Church
By April Xu
Down Manhattan Chinatown’s bustling Pell Street, a modest five-story building sits tucked between a neighborhood barbershop and a wonton noodle restaurant. Its weathered crimson façade and forest green doors almost blend into the surrounding streetscape of aging buildings that line the block. Yet on closer inspection, clues reveal an extraordinary past. The building at 21 Pell Street remains one of the most historically significant landmarks in Chinese American history: First Chinese Baptist Church.
Early this month, on Aug. 2, the church celebrated its 100th anniversary. Hymns in Cantonese, Mandarin and English echoed throughout the sanctuary as neighbors, current and former congregants, historians and civic leaders gathered to commemorate the milestone. The celebration honored not only the church’s longevity, but also the generations of Chinese immigrants whose lives were transformed within its storied walls.
Above the church’s entrance, a stone plaque hangs inscribed with Chinese characters reading “Memorial Hall,” written by the internationally renowned philosopher and former Republic of China Ambassador to the United States, Hu Shih. Inside, visitors marvel at the cherry wood furnishings crafted in a traditional Chinese style, reflecting the church’s unique identity of being a distinctly Chinese institution rooted in both faith and community.
The church’s celebration featured a long list of notable attendees. Sitting in the church pews were City Council member Phil Wong, the first Chinese immigrant elected to represent the city’s 30th Council District in Queens. There was also Po-ling Ng, who devoted five decades to the Chinese-American Planning Council, one of the nation’s largest Asian American social service organizations, and Wai Wah Chin, founding president of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York (CACAGNY) and a longtime advocate for Chinese American civil rights. Amy Chin, president of the Board of Think!Chinatown, a nonprofit dedicated to strengthening intergenerational community through neighborhood engagement, storytelling and the arts, was also in attendance.
To read the entire article: https://documentedny.com/2026/08/13/first-chinese-baptist-church-centennial/