The Sing Family in Austin

Joe Sing came at a hard time for Chinese Texans. The first Chinese in the state, 250 contract laborers from California, arrived in January 1870 to build the Houston and Texas Central; most soon left. The exclusion law of 1882 then barred nearly all immigration from China for six decades, and the state's Chinese population peaked at 836 in 1900 before falling to 703 in 1930. Many of those who stayed made their living in hand laundries, which needed little capital. Only after repeal in 1943 did the community grow, to 25,461 by 1980.

What the plaque says

The Sing Family in Austin Born in China as Jo Fung Sheng in 1860, Joe Sing immigrated to the U.S. around 1890 to financially support his family. He settled in Austin, becoming one of the first Chinese immigrants in the city. Sing opened Hong Lee Laundry on 311 W. 5th Street, which he ran along with his wife, Francis (Moreno), a Mexican-American woman who lost her U.S. citizenship for marrying a Chinese man. Joe Sing supported the Austin Chinese community by providing loans for other Chinese men, who found it difficult to procure funds otherwise because of discrimination. Joe and Francis had four children, including Margaret, who bought this property, becoming the first homeowner in the family. (2010)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas State Cemetery — 0.7 mi
  A hill east of the Capitol that began with one general's grave in 1851 and now holds Stephen F. Austin, governors, Barbara Jordan and more than 2,000 Confederate veterans and widows.
• French Legation State Historic Site — 0.8 mi
  A raised pine house built in 1840 and 1841 for France's envoy to the Republic of Texas, who left Austin in a rage over a neighbor's pigs before it was finished.
• George Washington Carver Museum — 0.9 mi
  East Austin's museum of Black history and culture, grown from a segregated branch library moved across town in 1933, with a permanent exhibit on Juneteenth at its core.
• Texas State Capitol — 1.5 mi
  Austin's fourth statehouse, a Renaissance Revival capitol of 1888 that stands 311 feet to its Goddess of Liberty and was restored after the 1983 fire.

More markers nearby

• The Herrera Family — 0.2 mi
• Zavala Elementary School — 0.4 mi
• John A. Wharton — 0.6 mi
• Xavier Blanchard DeBray — 0.6 mi