By Community Contributor | The Raincross Gazette
Photo Credit: Erik Chen
July 31, 2025
‘Building Our Region’s Korean Communities’ exhibit highlights 1905 Pachappa Camp discovery by UC Riverside researcher.
On July 24, the Inland Empire Civil Rights Institute commemorated the 15th anniversary of the Young Oak Kim Center with the opening of a new exhibition, “Building Our Region’s Korean Communities,” now on display in downtown Riverside.
Serving as a tribute to a recently discovered chapter of American history, the exhibit sheds light on Pachappa Camp, the first Koreatown in the United States, founded in Riverside in 1905.
The exhibit drew heavy inspiration from the findings of Dr. Edward T. Chang, a professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, Riverside. While studying a 1908 map discovered by his undergraduate student, he noticed a faint label in a small corner of downtown Riverside marked as a Korean settlement.
