4 Main Street
Wing Gee Der and Wing Jaa
1930s to 1940s
A Chinese laundry established at 23 Main Street in 1900 was first run by immigrants Lee Wah and his elderly employee Han Leung who came to the United States before the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. They sold the business to Han’s son, Charles Leung, who ran the washing and ironing services from the building currently occupied by Murray’s Beverages. In 1930, the laundry—then operated by California-born Hot Chin and Harry Der—moved to 4 Main Street, next to what is now the Club Car Restaurant. In the late 1930s, the Canton Hand Laundry was taken over by Wing Gee Der and Wing Jaa, who also offered “Chinese” take-out food from the location.
Wing Gee Der’s son, Ning Der, came to Nantucket from Canton in the 1930s, enrolling in the Academy Hill School and attending the Coffin School, where he made the well-known model of the Unitarian Church.
A71-82
