Last Tuesday, October 21, the City Council celebrated its proclamation naming October (in perpetuity) Filipino-American History Month on Bainbridge by hosting a brief history lesson of a long, rich history.
Mayor Anne Blair told those gathered in Council chambers that a manual census of mill workers in 1883 recorded the first known Filipino resident of Bainbridge, a man recorded as Manila who worked at the Port Madison Mill. After the Spanish-American War, more Filipinos came to the area to work in the Port Blakely and Port Madison mills.
When the mills closed before World War I, most of the workers left. But a second wave of immigrants followed when the Great Depression hit the Philippines in the late 1920s, a little before it affected the United States. Blair said 44 young men between the ages of 17 and 32 arrived on the Island. Some acquired land and began farming strawberries and other berries. Others found low-paying work. Blair said the Filipino immigrants were welcomed by other Asian Americans.
During the Depression, many Filipino Americans became migrant workers, moving from season to season among the fish canneries in Alaska, the orchards in eastern Washington, farms in California, and farms on Bainbridge. The farms on Bainbridge felt most like home, said Blair.
Marcia Montgomery, of the Bainbridge Historic Preservation Commission, continued the lesson. She said that in 1908, Japanese Americans began farming strawberries. First Nations peoples helped harvest the crops. But eventually Filipinos began outnumbering them in the harvesting jobs. At the time, numerous Filipino men married First Nations women, creating the Indipino population.
During the Second World War, when Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated to internment camps, many Filipino-Americans continued working their farms for them until their return after the war.
Montgomery said that the HPC has created a survey of Filipino-American properties. Filipino-American Pinky Madayag started the process by making a map for the HPC from memory of all the Filipino and Indipino farms on the Island. He identified 21 farms. Montgomery mentioned three of the farms:
- The Felix Narte farm on Miller Road. Narte had worked on the Kitamoto farm and operated it while the Kitamoto family was interned. After the war, the Kitamotos sold the Miller farmland to Narte for $1.
- The Rosendo and Felicidad Berganio home. Montgomery said after the Second World War, many Filipino Americans bought homes on the Island. The Berganio home and surrounding farm fields were purchased in 1954 on Fletcher Bay Road.
- Manuel and Evangeline Bucsit moved into their home on what is now Bucsit Lane and started their farm in 1947. The land still has numerous outbuildings that were used as bunkhouses for seasonal laborers.
Montgomery said that Rick Chandler of the Bainbridge History Museum will prepare an interpretive exhibit from the farm survey.
Next, Reynaldo Pascua, the President of the Filipino American Community of Yakima Valley, thanked Blair “for this wonderful proclamation.” He told the audience that the first Filipino to come to America arrived in 1587. He confirmed that the man named Manila was the first recorded Filipino resident of the Pacific Northwest.
Pascua said that in 2010 California became the first state to pass a proclamation for Filipino-American history month. Washington is the second, he said. Pascua said he helped write the resolutions for the State Senate and House and drafted the proclamation that Governors Gregoire and Inslee have signed over the past five years.
Pascua said that Wapato, Yakima, and now Bainbridge are the only municipalities that have permanently declared October Filipino-American history month.
Read the proclamation here.
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Photo by Laurel F.