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Asian - American Heritage - Punjabis in Canada, a chronology. . 1915 - Stockton. First Gurdwara Building November 21, 1915 the first
of two Gurdwara buildings was finished and dedicated on South Grant
Street. Bhola Singh was the priest, Dharam Singh, President and B. S.
Inder, Secretary. This original Stockton Temple - a two story wooden
structure was the first Indian religious building in the United States. It
was designed by W. B. Thomas of Stockton and built by A. J. McPhee for
about $3,000. The original small house was not torn down, but has since
been used by the residence of the Granthi. On the opening day one of the
members, Nand Singh told the Stockton Record that
" the Gurdwara maintains a free dinner room in connection
with its temple." He continued: “We do not permit our people to become
charges on public charity—If a man is hungry and out of funds we feed
him. Our dining room is open at all hours of the day and is closed only
for a few hours during the night. The unfortunate hungry American will
be as welcome as our own people." 1915 - Dedication of Stockton Gurdwara Click here for a transcript of the article which appeared in the Stockton Record for November 22, 1915, which reported on the dedication of the 1915 Temple. The principal place of business of the Pacific Coast Khalsa Diwan was in Berkeley until October 1, 1917, when its location was moved to Stockton. 1921 - Hazing of Hindu Students [unwind turbans] "Seniors Rescue Hindus from
U.C. Hazing
Crowd "Berkely, August 15 [1921] - Members of the sophomore class of the University of Claifornia who engaged today in upholding the tradition of the university anent the hazing of freshmen, faced a real problem this afternoon in the form of three Hindu scholars. The three were captured and lined up for hazing, after which a consultation of sophomores was held. Finally it was decided to make them take off their shoes and wade in
chemistry pond, explaining to them that they were "bathing their feet
turbans to solve the mystery of whin the university's sacred pool." Then
it was decided to unwind theirat might be underneath. To this, however,
the Hindus objected and showed fight. The three finally freed themselves
from their captors and ran frantically for the president's office with the
intention of calling the office of the British consulate at San Francisco
for protection. But they were overhauled by members of the senior class,
who restored the peace. In 1929 a new Gurdwara was built on the enlarged foundation of the old building. The old wooden building was moved to a place near the small frame house. The new brick structure was built at the cost of $35,000. It was dedicated on January 7, 1930. Sources: Stockton Record, Nov. 22, 1915, p.5; Stockton Record, Aug. 3, 1915,p.4;Stockton Record, Dec. 3, 1932, p.16;Wood in Bibliography;Walker in bibliography; Harbhajan S. Shergill, Lodi, California, Personal communication 1948 - El Centro (California) Gurdwara estalished. El Centro Gurdwara was established in 1948. It had originally been a Japanese temple. World War II dealt a death blow to the Japanese community in the Imperial Valley, and shortly after the war the community leaders decided to sell the temple. The Sikh community bought the temple from the Japense and converted it into a Gurdwara. The buying price, according to an informant, was 18,000 dollars. The framehouse had been used as a kitchen and dining hall also on these occasions until 1954, when a large dining hall was built at a cost of about 18,000 dollars. Source: Chakravorti, Robindra Chandra. The Sikhs of El Centro: a social integration. Dissertation: University of Minnesota, 1968. 1956 - Dalip Singh Saund elected member of Congress. Dalip Singh Saund was elected a member of the Congress from the 20th Congressional District in California in 1956, "the first Democrat to be elected from his district of Westmorland, California, and the first person of Asian extraction ever elected to Congress in the history of the United States." Saund, who had come to the United States as a student, received a doctorate in mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1924, but he could not get himself a job commensurate with this academic degree because of the prejudice and discrimination against Asians in California prevalent at the time. He wrote:
[ Saund, D.S., Congressman from India (New York: E.P. Dutton & co., 1960) p45] For the text of Congressman Saud's biography and photo, go to Dalip S. Saud, The First Asian in U.S. Congress.
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