Dow (Harry) is born in Hudson.

The son of Chinese immigrants, Harry Dow soon moves with his family to 385 Shawmut Street. He attends the Dwight School and graduates from English High School, but the death of his parents forces him forego college and take over the family laundry business on West Dedham Street. He subsequently graduates from Suffolk Law School in 1927, becomes the first Asian American to pass the Massachusetts Bar exam, and serves in the U.S. Army as an intelligence officer. Dow returns to Boston, lives at 385 Shawmut Avenue, becomes an immigration lawyer and community activist in the South End and Chinatown, and dies after being struck by a car on Boylston Street in 1985.