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Donaldina Cameron House

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The Donaldina Cameron House , formerly known as the Occidental Board Presbyterian Mission House and Chinese Presbyterian Mission House , is a historic building built in 1908, and located in Chinatown in San Francisco, California. The initial use of the building was as an early 20th-century safe house for Chinese girls and women. Donaldina Cameron , the namesake for the building had served as the house director. Due to the unsettling social history of the building, it is sometimes referred to as a haunted house. The building currently houses the Chinese community nonprofit, Cameron House.

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20-475: It has been listed as a San Francisco Designated Landmark since October 10, 1971. Many Chinese emigrants came to California during the 1849 Gold Rush , they made up one-fifth of the population in four of the largest mining counties. The Chinese were treated poorly, and they often worked low wage jobs in mines and on railroads. As a result, few Chinese women were able to join their partners in California, and

40-594: A final investigative report and found Wichman had abused and molested 18 males, including minors from the Cameron House and the Presbyterian Church in Chinatown . The church has made efforts towards collective community healing, which included public acknowledgment of the crimes and an apology. Diana Ming Chan was the first Chinese social worker at Donaldina Cameron House. Rev. Harry Chuck led

60-483: Is a list of San Francisco Designated Landmarks . In 1967, the city of San Francisco, California , adopted Article 10 of the Planning Code, providing the city with the authority to designate and protect landmarks from inappropriate alterations. As of June 2024, the city had designated 318 structures or other properties as San Francisco Designated Landmarks. Many of the properties have also received recognition at

80-895: The Historic American Buildings Survey amassed information about culturally and architecturally significant properties in a program known as the Historic Sites Survey. Most of the designations made under this legislation became National Historic Sites , although the first designation, made December 20, 1935, was for a National Memorial , the Gateway Arch National Park (then known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial) in St. Louis , Missouri. The first National Historic Site designation

100-633: The United States Congress . In 1935, Congress passed the Historic Sites Act , which authorized the interior secretary authority to formally record and organize historic properties, and to designate properties as having "national historical significance", and gave the National Park Service authority to administer historically significant federally owned properties. Over the following decades, surveys such as

120-842: The 50 states. New York City alone has more NHLs than all but five states: Virginia , California , Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York, the latter of which has the most NHLs of all 50 states. There are 74 NHLs in the District of Columbia . Some NHLs are in U.S. commonwealths and territories, associated states, and foreign states . There are 15 in Puerto Rico , the Virgin Islands , and other U.S. commonwealths and territories ; five in U.S.-associated states such as Micronesia ; and one in Morocco . Over 100 ships or shipwrecks have been designated as NHLs. Approximately half of

140-650: The City of San Francisco has designated thirteen local landmark districts ranging in size from a handful of buildings to several hundred properties. Landmark districts are regulated by Article 10 of the Planning Code. National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark ( NHL ) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500, or roughly three percent, of over 90,000 places listed on

160-551: The Donaldina Cameron House from 1947 to 1977. Under Wichman, Cameron House expanded their youth programs and created mixed-sex and male classes. Wichman was later accused of sexual abuse and misconduct in the 1990s. Wichman had denied the allegations before his death. Because of the statute of limitations, the San Francisco DA's office never prosecuted. In 2004, the church's "Healing Task Force" released

180-501: The Donaldina Cameron House starting in 1977. Chuck had also worked for the Chinatown Coalition for Better Housing in the 1970s; and he had documented on film Asian-American activism in the 1960s, which became part of the documentary film "Chinatown Rising" (2020). The Donaldina Cameron House building is considered haunted by some because of its unsettling social history. San Francisco Designated Landmark This

200-672: The National Historic Landmarks are privately owned . The National Historic Landmarks Program relies on suggestions for new designations from the National Park Service, which also assists in maintaining the landmarks . A friends' group of owners and managers, the National Historic Landmark Stewards Association, works to preserve, protect and promote National Historic Landmarks. If not already listed on

220-623: The National Register, or as an NHL) often triggered local preservation laws, legislation in 1980 amended the listing procedures to require owner agreement to the designations. On October 9, 1960, 92 places, properties, or districts were announced as eligible to be designated NHLs by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton . Agreements of owners or responsible parties were subsequently obtained, but all 92 have since been considered listed on that 1960 date. The origins of

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240-548: The United States secretary of the interior because they are: More than 2,500 NHLs have been designated. Most, but not all, are in the United States. There are NHLs in all 50 states and the national capital of Washington, D.C. Three states ( Pennsylvania , Massachusetts , and New York ) account for nearly 25 percent of the nation's NHLs. Three cities within these states, Philadelphia , Boston , and New York City , respectively, all separately have more NHLs than 40 of

260-561: The country's National Register of Historic Places are recognized as National Historic Landmarks. A National Historic Landmark District sometimes called a National Historical Park may include more than one National Historic Landmark and contributing properties that are buildings, structures, sites or objects, and it may include non-contributing properties. Contributing properties may or may not also be separately listed or registered. Prior to 1935, efforts to preserve cultural heritage of national importance were made by piecemeal efforts of

280-744: The federal level by inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places or by designation as National Historic Landmarks . Download coordinates as: Washington and Mason Streets, northwest corner; now called the San Francisco Cable Car Museum Formerly the Occidental Board Presbyterian Mission House; residence of Donaldina Cameron Built in 1908, designed by Walter Danforth Bliss and William Baker Faville Inside of Golden Gate Park Since 1972,

300-593: The first National Historic Landmark was a simple cedar post, placed by the Lewis and Clark Expedition on their 1804 outbound trek to the Pacific in commemoration of the death from natural causes of Sergeant Charles Floyd . The cedar plank was later replaced by a 100 ft (30 m) marble obelisk. The Sergeant Floyd Monument in Sioux City, Iowa , was officially designated on June 30, 1960. NHLs are designated by

320-564: The house director starting in 1897, after the death of Culbertson. Tien Fuh Wu worked as Cameron's aide, and Samantha Knox Condit was a teacher at the organization. During the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fires, the building was destroyed by the San Francisco Fire Department in hopes of creating a firebreak . The Occidental Board Presbyterian Mission House was rebuilt in 1908 under architect Julia Morgan and moved to 920 Sacramento Street. The new building

340-575: The male Chinese population was disproportionately represented. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, began further limiting Chinese immigration. The Tongs exploited the situation by creating a human trafficking network and by setting up brothels in Chinatown. The women brought from China were often sold as wives, prostitutes, and household slaves. In 1873, five women organized the Presbyterian Women's Occidental Board of Foreign Missions. The Occidental Board Presbyterian Mission House building

360-563: Was built using salvaged clinker bricks . Girls and mui tsai would hide in the basement from their captures. With the falling numbers of girls being rescued throughout the late-1930s and the Magnuson Act of 1943 (a repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act), the needs of the community changed. Cameron retired in the late 1930s, and at this point the building was turned into a language school. Rev. F. S. "Dick" Wichman led

380-596: Was formed in 1876 in Chinatown in San Francisco, under the leadership of Margaret Culbertson (1834–1897). It was established as a home for Chinese girls that were escaping abusive employment, or prostitution. The first location of the organization was a wooden building located across the street at 933 Sacramento Street. Donaldina Cameron, joined the Mission House in 1895, where she taught sewing classes and worked alongside Culbertson. Cameron started to serve as

400-684: Was made for the Salem Maritime National Historic Site on March 17, 1938. In 1960, the National Park Service took on the administration of the survey data gathered under this legislation, and the National Historic Landmark program began to take more formal shape. When the National Register of Historic Places was established in 1966, the National Historic Landmark program was encompassed within it, and rules and procedures for inclusion and designation were formalized. Because listings (either on

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