History Pub - Tacoma's Chinese Expulsion of 1885
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McMenamins, UW Libraries Special Collections, and the Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation present History Pub
Tacoma’s Chinese Expulsion of 1885
Presented by Ryan Dearinger
Spanish Ballroom
McMenamins Elks Temple
Wednesday, November 18, 2026
7pm/doors 6pm
All ages welcome
On November 3, 1885, five hundred white Tacomans rounded up hundreds of the city’s remaining Chinese residents and forcibly marched them through the pouring rain to a railroad station and crammed them into boxcars bound for Portland. After terrorizing local businessmen known to be supporters of the Chinese, this mob burned Tacoma’s Chinatown to the ground. The mob was so methodical in its expulsion of Chinese residents, local newspapers reported, that its approach was hailed as the “Tacoma Method.”
Tacoma's Chinese Expulsion was the dark culmination of national and local anti-Chinese sentiment, numerous outbursts of violence in the Puget Sound region, and a culture within the city of Tacoma that reinforced xenophobia and an enduring nativism. The terrorism in Tacoma dehumanized an immigrant population and stimulated expulsions of Chinese communities in over two hundred West Coast and Northwest towns and cities between 1885 and 1887.
History Professor Ryan Dearinger concentrates on the ways Tacoma's Chinese Expulsion was depicted in the late 1880s and how the city reckoned with its anti-Chinese history in the generations that followed, leading to the creation of Chinese Reconciliation Park.
Dr. Ryan Dearinger is Professor of History and Faculty Fellow in the Honors College at George Fox University, where he teaches courses on the American West, labor and working-class history, and immigration. His book The Filth of Progress: Immigrants, Americans, and the Building of Canals and Railroads in the West won the 2017 “Best Book Award” from Phi Alpha Theta, the National History Honor Society. His current book project explores the history of Tacoma’s 1885 Chinese Expulsion.
Tacoma’s Chinese Expulsion of 1885
Presented by Ryan Dearinger
Spanish Ballroom
McMenamins Elks Temple
Wednesday, November 18, 2026
7pm/doors 6pm
All ages welcome
On November 3, 1885, five hundred white Tacomans rounded up hundreds of the city’s remaining Chinese residents and forcibly marched them through the pouring rain to a railroad station and crammed them into boxcars bound for Portland. After terrorizing local businessmen known to be supporters of the Chinese, this mob burned Tacoma’s Chinatown to the ground. The mob was so methodical in its expulsion of Chinese residents, local newspapers reported, that its approach was hailed as the “Tacoma Method.”
Tacoma's Chinese Expulsion was the dark culmination of national and local anti-Chinese sentiment, numerous outbursts of violence in the Puget Sound region, and a culture within the city of Tacoma that reinforced xenophobia and an enduring nativism. The terrorism in Tacoma dehumanized an immigrant population and stimulated expulsions of Chinese communities in over two hundred West Coast and Northwest towns and cities between 1885 and 1887.
History Professor Ryan Dearinger concentrates on the ways Tacoma's Chinese Expulsion was depicted in the late 1880s and how the city reckoned with its anti-Chinese history in the generations that followed, leading to the creation of Chinese Reconciliation Park.
Dr. Ryan Dearinger is Professor of History and Faculty Fellow in the Honors College at George Fox University, where he teaches courses on the American West, labor and working-class history, and immigration. His book The Filth of Progress: Immigrants, Americans, and the Building of Canals and Railroads in the West won the 2017 “Best Book Award” from Phi Alpha Theta, the National History Honor Society. His current book project explores the history of Tacoma’s 1885 Chinese Expulsion.
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Where is it happening?
Spanish Ballroom, 565 Broadway, Tacoma, WA 98402-3907, United States
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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Host or PublisherMcMenamins History
