Kam Wah Chung & Co. Museum

Kam Wah Chung Heritage Site 金華中藥店歷史地點
Kam Wah Chung building
Type	Public, state
Location	Grant County, Oregon
Nearest city	John Day,
Coordinates	44°25′07″N 118°57′25″W / 44.418688°N 118.956922°WCoordinates: 44°25′07″N 118°57′25″W / 44.418688°N 118.956922°W
Area	0.42 acres (0.17 ha)[1]
Operated by	Oregon Parks and Recreation Department
Kam Wah Chung Company Building
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Built	1866
NRHP Reference #	73001575
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	March 20, 1973
Designated NHL	September 20, 2005[2]

Kam Wah Chung Heritage Site
Chinese	金華中藥店歷史地點
Literal meaning	Kam Wah Chung Pharmacy Historic Site
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Jīn Huázhōng yàodiàn lìshǐ dìdiǎn Yue: Cantonese Jyutping gam1 waa4 zung1 joek1 dim3 lik6 si2 dei6 dim2

The Kam Wah Chung & Co. Museum, also known as Kam Wah Chung Company Building, is a state park and a National Historic Landmark that preserves early Chinese culture in John Day in the U.S. state of Oregon.^[2] Built in 1866 or 1867 as a trading post along a wagon road later known as The Dalles Military Road, it later became the center of the Chinese community in John Day as a store and apothecary run by Ing Hay (known also as "Doc Hay") and Lung On, Chinese immigrants from Guangdong.^[3]

The building remained abandoned after Ing Hay died in 1952. He asked that the building be deeded to the city of John Day with the provision it be turned into a museum. His wish, and the ownership of the building, were forgotten until 1967. While surveying for a new park the city discovered its ownership of the building and began to restore it as it was in the 1940s.

Today the Kam Wah Chung & Co. Museum contains one of the most extensive collections of materials from the century-long influx of Chinese immigrants in the American West. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and designated a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior in 2005.^[2][3]

See also

• List of Oregon state parks
• List of National Historic Landmarks in Oregon
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Grant County, Oregon

References

1. Bannan, Jan (2002). Oregon State Parks: A Complete Recreation Guide (2nd ed.). Seattle: The Mountaineers Books. pp. 219–20. ISBN 0-89886-794-0.
2. "Kam Wah Chung Company Building" (Statement of Significance). National Historic Landmarks Program, National Park Service. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
3. Donovan, Sally; Griffith, Sarah (September 2005), National Historic Landmark Nomination: Kam Wah Chung Company Building (PDF), National Historic Landmarks Program, National Park Service, retrieved July 1, 2011.

• Barlow, Jeffrey; Christine Richardson (1979). China Doctor of John Day. Portland, Oregon: Binford & Mort. ISBN 0-8323-0346-1.
• "Kam Wah Chung". The Oregon Encyclopedia. Portland State University. Retrieved 2011-07-01.

External links

• "Kam Wah Chung Heritage Site". Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. Retrieved 2011-07-01.
• "Kam Wah Chung & Co. Museum". Oregon State Parks Trust. Retrieved 2011-07-01.
• "Kam Wah Chung Company building". Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. National Park Service. Retrieved 2011-07-01.
• Kam Wah Chung Documentary produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting