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Japanese colony honored
On this day in 1982, a marker was erected at the site of the Kishi
Colony to honor Japanese pioneer Kichimatsu Kishi and the settlement he
founded. The colony was one of at least three small Japanese settlements
established on the Texas coastal plain during the early twentieth
century. The community, about ten miles east of Beaumont in central
Orange County, was founded by Kishi, a veteran of the Russo-Japanese
War. He purchased the land in 1907, and in the following year he and
other Japanese immigrants planted their first rice crops. Several,
including Kishi, brought their families to the United States. The
Japanese colony at Kishi eventually included thirty-two men, five women,
and four children. Although the Great Depression led to the Kishi
Colony's collapse, a few of the former immigrants remained in Southeast
Texas. Many of their descendants still live in the area.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- KISHI COLONY, TX
- JAPANESE
- RICE CULTURE
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Joiner becomes "Dad" of East Texas Oilfield (1930)
- General joins ranks with artist (1843)
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