Dosan Ahn Chang Ho
You’ve already driven through his name.
Where the 10 meets the 110 in downtown Los Angeles, the interchange is officially named for Dosan Ahn Chang Ho. So is the post office at 6th and Harvard — the first U.S. Post Office ever named for an Asian American figure.
In 1904, Dosan arrived in Riverside, California, and built the first Korean settlement on the U.S. mainland — a camp of orange pickers he organized into a self-governing community. He told them: “Pick one orange with care, and that too is service to your country.”
From that citrus grove, he founded the organizations that became Korean America — and helped write the constitution of a Korea that did not yet exist. He died in 1938 of illness contracted during repeated imprisonments, seven years before liberation and three years before Pearl Harbor.
His daughter, Susan Ahn Cuddy, became the U.S. Navy’s first female gunnery officer. His son Philip Ahn has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Most Americans have never heard of him. We’re building a place that changes that.
Timeline
Compiled from public sources; pending final review by the foundation.
1878
November 9
Born in Kangso, Pyongan Province
1902
Emigrates to the United States
San Francisco
He came to study. What he found changed his plans.
1904
Settles in Riverside — Pachappa Camp
Riverside, California
He organized orange grove laborers into a self-governing community — the first Korean settlement on the U.S. mainland, recognized by Riverside in 2017 as America’s first Koreatown.
1905
Founds the Mutual Assistance Society
San Francisco
1909
The Korean National Association
The organizational grammar Korean American groups still use today.
1913
May 13
Founds the Young Korean Academy
San Francisco
1919
Minister of the Interior, Provisional Government
Shanghai
1938
March 10
Death
Seoul
He died of illness contracted during repeated imprisonments — seven years before liberation.