Mapo Streetcar Terminal March 1st Independence Movement Protest Site

Mapo Streetcar Terminal refers to the area from Seoul Subway Line 5's Mapo Station to the entrance of Mapo Bridge. It was the terminus of streetcars that ran between central Seoul from the Japanese colonial period until the late 1960s. This site is historically significant as the location of a March 1st Independence Movement protest on March 1, 1919, at around 8 PM, where approximately 1,000 people gathered to shout for independence.

On March 1, 1919, the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed at Taehwagwan, and at 2 PM, the declaration was read at the octagonal pavilion in Tapgol Park, followed by thousands of students marching and shouting for Korean independence. The procession passed through Jongno, Gwanggyo, in front of City Hall, and Namdaemun, and gathered at this Mapo Streetcar Terminal around 8 PM as the sun set, once again loudly shouting for independence. Near Yonhui College (now Yonsei University), the protest march continued until around 11 PM without dispersing. This was a place where the Korean people expressed their will for independence peacefully and nonviolently, without a single riot occurring.