Even the neighborhood's name is disputed. One theory traces "Yangnim" to hanja meaning "sunlit grove," describing a forest that caught good light. Another traces it to hanja meaning "willow grove," pointing to willow trees once planted along the banks of the Gwangju Stream to prevent erosion. A third theory holds that the name is a phonetic transcription of an old native Korean word, "beodeureum," describing the shape of a ridge line running down toward the stream. All three explanations still circulate, and nobody has settled the argument. What's certain is how this neighborhood earned its nickname, "the Western Village": in 1904, American missionaries Eugene Bell and Clement Owen settled here, making Yangnim-dong the first channel through which Western modernity entered Gwangju. Their legacy is still visible in the neighborhood's red-brick buildings.
The Yi Jang-woo House stands out in a district full of Western-style architecture precisely because it's a traditional Korean hanok from the late Joseon era. Built in 1899 as an upper-class residence, it is now designated Gwangju Folklore Cultural Heritage No. 1. Western missionary architecture and a traditional Joseon hanok surviving side by side in one alley show the two faces of Gwangju's opening to the modern world. The Owen Memorial Hall in front of Yangnim Church deserves a look too. Built in 1914 to honor Clement Owen, who died as a missionary in this land, and his grandfather, it's now designated Gwangju Metropolitan City Tangible Cultural Heritage No. 26. Walking this neighborhood isn't just admiring pretty colonial-era buildings — it's tracing how Western religion, Confucian Joseon-era order, and the memory of colonial-era resistance all stacked up in the same few blocks. The whole area is compact enough to cover on foot in half a day.