A National Historic Landmark and State Heritage Site Managed by The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department

Kam Wah Chung and Company was a Chinese American medical clinic, general store, community center and residence in the once bustling John Day Chinatown.  The State Heritage Site includes the historic Kam Wah Chung building and an interpretive center with displays of additional historic objects, educational panels and videos.

The John Day Chinatown was started in the 1870s by Chinese American gold miners whose mines were in the John Day Valley around the confluence with Canyon Creek. The first record of Kam Wah Chung and Company is a 1879 newspaper article which noted ten Chinese American stores in the area, the largest being the Kam Wah Chung. Ing “Doc” Hay and Lung On purchased the Kam Wah Chung and Company in 1888 and began a partnership which lasted over 50 years.  Lung On was the general store proprietor and a businessman, while “Doc” Hay was a practitioner of pulse diagnosis and herbal medicine. Under their guidance the Kam Wah Chung building was an important social, medical, and religious center for Oregon’s Chinese American community.