Isleton's Main Street remembers Delta farm work and community life

Isleton sits along the Sacramento River Delta. Its Main Street carries more history than its small size might suggest. The city was founded in 1874 by Josiah Poole, and river trade helped it grow.

The town also grew with Delta farming. Around the late 1800s and early 1900s, Chinese and Japanese workers came to Isleton for agricultural jobs. Main Street developed with a Chinese district on the west side and a Japanese district on the east side.

The canneries made that pattern stronger. In 1910, there were six asparagus canneries in the area, with three in Isleton. Japanese and Chinese laborers supplied 90 percent of the workforce. Chinese and Japanese workers also planted, tended, and harvested much of the surrounding crop land.

That history is still visible in the Isleton Chinese and Japanese Commercial Districts. They are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Bing Kong Tong building is one of the places people often notice because it points to the social, school, worship, and community life that grew beside the work.

The story reaches beyond old buildings. It is about how river towns, farm labor, immigration, and local business fit together in the Delta. Isleton makes that easier to see because so much of the memory sits along one small Main Street.