Historic gurdwara
Gurdwara Sahib Stockton
The first gurdwara in the United States, founded in 1912 by the Pacific Coast Khalsa Diwan Society. It was a centre for Sikh and other South Asian immigrants and is closely linked with the Ghadar movement.
History
- 1911 to 1912
Founding
The gurdwara's own history says Sikhs from across California met in 1911 at Holt and resolved to set up a religious centre, and that they bought land in south Stockton in 1912. Wikipedia names the Pacific Coast Khalsa Diwan Society as the founding body.
Wikipedia credits two farmers, Jawala Singh and Wasakha Singh. They leased a 500-acre ranch where Punjabi Sikh farmers prayed in a room with Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, and then started the gurdwara in a house on South Grant Street.[Web][Web]
- 1915 to 1929
The buildings
A photograph of 1915 held at the University of the Pacific shows the original wooden gurdwara. According to the University of California, Berkeley's exhibition Echoes of Freedom, a new gurdwara was built in 1929 at the same South Grant Street location, on an enlarged foundation of the old building. The same exhibition shows a 1930 handbill issued from Stockton by the Pacific Coast Khalsa Diwan for a gurpurab celebration.[Arch][Arch]
- From 1913
The Ghadar connection
The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says Indian migrants went first to places including San Francisco and Stockton. Its entry on Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna says representatives from Canada and the United States met at Stockton in summer 1913 and decided to form the Hindustani Workers of the Pacific Coast, with him as president.
The gurdwara describes itself as the home of the Ghadari Babey, the veterans of that movement. Wikipedia says it supported the party and helped to fund its newspaper, The Ghadar.[EoS][EoS][Web][Web]
A community institution
The gurdwara served other South Asian immigrants as well as Sikhs. The gurdwara's history says it stayed the only gurdwara in the United States until the late 1940s, served langar to all comers, and began a scholarship for South Asian students at the University of California, Berkeley. Duleep Singh Saund, later the first Asian American elected to Congress, was among those who studied with its support, according to Wikipedia. The gurdwara also claims a link with Bhagat Singh Thind.
The Society's address today is 1930 Sikh Temple Street, Stockton.[Web][Web]
What the sources disagree on
- Where the Ghadar movement was founded
The Encyclopaedia's entry on the Ghadar movement says the association was formed at Portland in 1912. Its entry on Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna places the founding meeting at Stockton in summer 1913.[EoS][EoS]
- The place of the 1911 meeting and the ranch
The gurdwara's history says the 1911 meeting took place at Holt. Wikipedia places the ranch at a Holtville next to Stockton. Most details of the founding here come from the gurdwara itself and from Wikipedia, and have not been checked against records of the time.[Web][Web]
Images
The original wooden gurdwara on South Grant Street, Stockton, photographed by V. Covert Martin in 1915. It was replaced in 1929 on an enlarged foundation.
V. Covert Martin, 1915. Holt-Atherton Department, University of the Pacific Library (as credited by UC Berkeley). Public domain. Source
The Stockton gurdwara, photographed in 2006.
Ipsingh (Commons user), 2006. Public domain. Source
The interior of the Stockton gurdwara, as printed in The Hindusthanee Student in January 1916.
The Hindusthanee Student (publication), 1916. Public domain. Source
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