Ming Quong Home - Oakland

at Mills, CC SA-BY Our Oakland

The Ming Quong Home was an orphanage for Chinese girls, run by the Presbyterian Board of Missions from 1915 to 1958. There was one home in what was then known as Beulah Heights near Mills College, and later another at 9th and Fallon for the older girls. Ming Quong means "radiant light." Presbyterian missionary Donaldina Cameron was the driving force behind the orphanage.

There was also a summer camp in Los Gatos.

East 11th Street Home

The first home was called the Tooker Home for Chinese Girls, and opened in 1915 at 953 East 11th Street. Mrs. Mo Young Yum was the teacher. Some listings call it the Tooker Memorial Home. The home was purchased with a donation from the daughters of Nathaniel Tooker, a wealthy Presbyterian from Orange, New Jersey, who died in 1911. ⁷

The 1917 directory lists Nora K. Banks as the superintendent. The 1925 directory lists Emma H. Mills as the assistant superintendent.

The house was torn down by the 1950 Sanborn map, but can be seen at the pre-1912 address of 477 East 11th Street on the 1911 Sanborn.

1915 ⁹1911 Sanborn excerpt

Beulah Heights Home

The Beulah Heights building was designed by Julia Morgan in 1924, and completed in 1925. ³ The land was first purchased in 1919 to be an orphanage for Chinese girls, similar to the Chung Mei Home in Berkeley for Chinese boys. ^1,2 Ground was broken in 1924; the contractor was D.B. Farquaharson. ² The 1925 Sanborn labels it the Tooker Memorial Chinese Missionary School.

Donaldina Cameron was the superintendent until 1930. ¹ Ethel Higgins was superintendent 1930 to c.1949. ⁴

Sometime around 1935-1937, the Ming Quong Home moved some of the girls to the summer camp in Los Gatos and some to the home in Chinatown, ^5,6 and the building became a dormitory for Mills College. In 2004, the building became the Julia Morgan School for Girls.

1925 Sanborn excerpt

9th Street Home

It's not yet known when the home at 9th and Fallon opened, probably c.1935-1937. The home was at 51 - 9th Street in November 1938, when a benefit tea was held there. ⁸

The 1950 Sanborn labels it with both 51 - 9th Street and 825 Fallon Street.

There are references to it at that location as late as 1957. By 1959, 51 - 9th Street was the home of the Intertribal Friendship House.