CHINESE LAUNDRY ONCE OPERATED HEREHistorical Albion Michigan

Did you know that Albion once had a Chinese laundry for nearly 30 years? Our story begins in the early 1880s when Yo-Ke operated his Chinese laundry at 18 S. Superior St. This would be present-day 110 S. Superior St. Yo-Ke lived upstairs. His name first appears in the 1882 Albion Village Directory.

Ke’s name was gone from the 1885 directory, and in its place was listed a man by the name of Lee Cheung, who operated a laundry at 10 S. Superior St. This would be present-day 104 S. Superior St. Cheung soon established himself as a bonafide Albion businessman, and placed an advertisement in the 1885 Albion City Directory.

Cheung moved to 115 W. Cass St. at the turn of the century, and stayed there for a decade. His name last appears in the 1909 directory, and does not appear in the 1913 directory. What happened? According to one story, Cheung had a regular habit of depositing his day’s receipts by walking to the Albion National Bank (present location of the north half of Fedco) at 9 o’clock in the morning. He was quite predictable, and would always leave his establishment unlocked for the brief time he was gone each day.

According to the story, one day Cheung left with his bag of cash, headed towards the bank, but never made it. What happened we do not know; his laundry door was unlocked as if nothing was wrong. He was never seen again. The story of Lee Cheung is one of those mysteries in Albion’s history which is hard to separate rumor from fact, but has become somewhat of a legend through the years.

This week we present a photograph of the Cheung Laundry, which was located in the [now demolished] building across from present-day City Hall, and his advertisement in the 1885 Albion City Directory. Cheung’s business was located behind the large elm tree and telephone pole which is blocking the photograph. A small sign states, "Lee Cheung, Chinese Laundry." To the right is Dan Connor’s plumbing at 117 W. Cass St.

	Frank Passic — Albion Historian An Albion native and 1971 graduate of Albion High School, Frank Passic has been researching and writing Albion history since 1976. He is the creator of the Albion Historical Notebook, with hundreds of articles appearing weekly in the Morning Star and The Recorder. Frank maintains an extensive personal archive including Riverside Cemetery records, family surname files, genealogies, photographs, city directories, and high school yearbooks. Support his 2026 research at the Historic Albion Michigan Facebook page. Historical Notebook \| From the Archives \| Subject List \| 100 Years Ago \| Alphabetical Index \| Frank Passic Home Page \| Albion History Books \| Contact Frank
	Michigan Prints by Maggie LaNoue Michigan Prints offers limited-edition archival Giclée prints, miniprints, notecards and boxed sets featuring Michigan landmarks, nature, resorts and nostalgia. Each print and card includes a legend on the back with stories about Michigan history. Albion scenes include the Kalamazoo River waterfall and the Blizzard of 1978. Find Michigan Prints online and at local shops. Michigan Prints \| Albion Scenes \| Custom Cards \| Zazzle Gifts
	AlbionMich.net — General Guide to Albion AlbionMich.net is a hub for community life in the greater Albion area, featuring current news, city council updates, river restoration stories, parks and trails. See Albion's beautiful Kalamazoo River waterfall as it looks today — and follow the story of its future restoration. Includes news from The Recorder and stories about Albion's 17 parks. AlbionMich.net \| Albion Blog \| Frank Passic on AlbionMich.net
	General Guide to Albion AlbionMich.net offers two General Guides to the Albion area — one covering community life including city council, veterans, history, youth and wellness resources, and one covering the outdoors including roads, rivers, parks, trails and downtown. Both guides feature stories by local writers including contributors to The Recorder, sorted by topic for easy reference. General Guide — Community \| General Guide — Outdoors
	Robin James — Indices Unlimited Robin James is the editor of the Albion Historical Notebook and has kept Frank Passic's thousands of articles organized and searchable for decades. A trained librarian and archivist, Robin specializes in back-of-book and online indexing, multimedia collection management, and corporate information distribution. He also enjoys strange music and is a contributing editor for Igloo electronic music magazine. For more about his indexing services, visit Indices Unlimited.
AlbionDesign.com — Communications Specialists Since 1981 \| Advertise on AlbionMich.com