Mah Jim Doo Fong Club

10180 97 Street, Edmonton

Also known as Mah Gim Doo Tong Building. 

One of Edmonton’s earliest formal, clan- or family-based organizations is the Mah Society of Edmonton. The Edmonton branch of the Mah Society was chartered in 1917, but according to an Edmonton Journal article dated February 24, 1958, this Edmonton branch already existed in 1914 because of Jim Mah. The first Mah clan branch office was
located in this two-storey wood-framed
building that once stood on the southwest
corner of 102nd Avenue and 97 Street.

It was built as the private residence of John E. Jelly in
1915, and 1917 the International Coffee
House relocated here from two doors down. It then became the William
Laredes Restaurant from 1921-23.

In 1924, the building was listed
in the Henderson’s Directory as the Mah
Jim Doo Fong Club and in 1925 as the
Mah Gim Doo Tong. Except for a slight
variation in the English spelling of the
names and the word “Club” tagged to the
first name, both names refer to the same
association. In 1950 the building’s name
was changed to Mah Foo Fong and it remained so until 1953.

The Mahs in Edmonton were mostly from this general area or Hong Kong, where many escaped to from China after the communist take-over in 1949. Due to the high number of Mahs (the name means horse) than other Chinese names living in Edmonton, the Chinese nicknamed Edmonton a “stable”.

By 1945, the so-called Mah Society of Edmonton had moved nearby into 9643 101A Avenue, a building that was demolished and replaced in 1982. The name “Mah’s Society” is still clearly present on the exterior. It also houses the Foo Fung Sports Club and Foo Fung Seniors Drop-In Centre (Foo Fung is retained in respect to the progenitor of the Mah clan). A common practice among many Chinese associations was to purchase or erect buildings of their own as soon as they have the means, often through membership fees, investments, fundraising and donations, to do so, and the Mah Society was no different.

Era: The War Years
Themes: Sports, Leisure & Entertainment
Cultural Groups: Chinese
Area: Central

97th Street looking south, this address on the far right, 1932. Glenbow Museum Archives, ND-3-5972b.

The building up close (cropped from original image). Glenbow Museum Archives, ND-3-5972b.

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