Manufacturer: Maddock Pottery, Scammell China
User: King Fong restaurant
Distributor: Tilden Thurber Corporation
Date of examples: Circa 1913-1925

King Fong-Union cigars

King Fong-1914 view

King Fong-1930s Yen Non

King Fong-2025 view of building

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Notes: The King Fong restaurant occupied space on the right end of the ground floor at 205 Weybosset Street, across from the Crown Hotel and the Outlet department store in Providence, R.I.

Not much information on King Fong has been found, so it is difficult to know the exact dates of its operation. The Crown Hotel, which opened in 1901, appears on early views of the building before it housed this restaurant. A post card shows a United Cigar Store in this part of the building. A circa 1914 postcard, that shows the entrance to the new public comfort station in the street, shows a vertical sign on the corner of the building with "Restaurant" and "Chop-?" Slightly later views contain a large vertical sign with "King Fong." An early 1930s postcard shown the restaurant sign as "Yen Non."

There is a reference to King Fong in an article entitled "Chow Mein Sandwiches," (link below) in which it was said that Ting Tow, "who reputedly operated a hand laundry during the 19^th century in Pawtucket" had a son named Fong who "was Rhode Island's first Chinese restaurateur. He operated in succession the King Fong and the Young China restaurants." No dates, however, were attributed to the King Fong.

There was a mention of a fire in 1920 in The Rural New Yorker that "caused damage of $50,000 in the building at 207 Weybosset Street, Providence, R.I., Jan. 25, the King Fong American and Chinese restaurant, and the Park Clothing Company, being the principal sufferers."

Based on this ephemera and articles then, the best guess for the restaurant's years of operation would be from around 1913 to around 1929.

The crested china produced at the Lamberton Works contains "KING FONG" in outlined letters of a style often used for Asian restaurants. D. William Scammell's 1923-25 customer contact book lists the crest color as "Jefferson Green," with "Two one line Bands."  It also notes that the cost of the crest was 35¢ per dozen.

Maddock Pottery originally made this crested pattern on its American China base. A fragment with this crest (below a rim line), was unearthed in a dump site Maddock used between 1906 and 1924. Other known examples contain the impressed Maddock's Trenton China mark. There are examples with impressed and transfer "Scammell's Trenton China" back stamps.

The Tilden Thurber Corporation, of Providence, was the supplier. The building at 205 Weybosset Street is still standing and as of 2025, contains apartments on the upper floors.

Source:
Chow Mein Sandwiches: Chinese American Entrepreneurship in Rhode Island, by Imogene L. Lim and John Eng-Wong

Contributor:
Larry Paul: author