Kam Wah Chung State Heritage Site in John Day opens for the 2024 season on May 2
JOHN DAY, Ore. (KTVZ) — Kam Wah Chung State Heritage Site in John Day welcomes visitors to its Interpretive Center and Museum for the 2024 season starting Thursday, May 2.
The Kam Wah Chung building and museum is a National Historic Landmark that preserves the home and businesses of two Chinese immigrants, Ing "Doc" Hay and Lung On. For more than 60 years, the building was a social, medical and religious center for Oregon's Chinese community.
The Interpretive Center will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Monday, with tours of the museum running at the top of every hour, the last one beginning at 4 p.m. The Museum and Interpretive Center will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday through May and possibly into June, due to staffing.
The free, 45-minute museum tour begins at the Interpretive Center at 125 NW Canton Street in John Day. Staff added a tour from noon to 1 p.m. this year to provide additional viewing opportunities. Space is limited to eight people per tour.
For more information or questions about tours and operating hours, please call the park office at 541-575-2800.
Even if you can't visit this heritage site in person, you can learn more about the history through these online resources:
- Oregon Chinese Diaspora Project
- Oregon College of Oriental Medicine: Kam Wah Chung Medical Archive
- National Historic Landmark Nomination: Kam Wah Chung Company Building
- Oregon Encyclopedia: Chinese Americans in Oregon and Kam Wah Chung and Co.
- Oregon Historical Society: Beyond Chinatown: Uncovering Oregon’s Rural Chinese History and Centering Chinese History in Oregon and Herbs & Roots: A History of Chinese Doctors in the American Medical Marketplace
