Asian-Americans and immigrants from Asia are Oregon’s fastest growing groups.
Chinese and Japanese immigrants in Oregon worked on the railroads as well as in lumber mills, on farms and in fish canneries. Kam Wah Chung State Heritage Site in John Day is a time capsule of history preserved in a Chinese-owned general store from the 1870s. Japanese business and farm owners were forced into relocation camps in Oregon after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, later settling in cities and towns across the state.
Today, Oregon’s Asian and Pacific Islander population is increasing not only in size but in diversity, with Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, and Marshallese making up the largest growing Asian communities in the state.
