Museum presentation digs into the history of Chinese Montanans’ vegetable gardens

Helena-based historian and author Mark Johnson returns to the Northwest Montana History Museum with his latest presentation, “Feeding the Frontier: A History of Chinese Vegetable Gardens in Montana.” 

In the Sept. 9 free presentation, Johnson will share how Chinese Montanans’ vegetable gardens introduced whole communities to food they hadn’t seen before.  

In towns across Montana, Chinese gardeners were once a familiar sight — walking the streets with baskets of fresh vegetables or cultivating fields on the edges of growing communities. Drawing on farming traditions from southern China, they introduced techniques that produced remarkable crops in the challenging conditions of the Mountain West. 

Their vegetables fed mining camps, railroad towns, and city neighborhoods, becoming essential to local diets. Yet their success also brought hostility, as anti-Chinese groups called for boycotts and sometimes turned to violence. 

The talk will explore the history of these vegetable gardens through maps, photographs, newspaper accounts and community memories, highlighting the resilience and impact of these often-overlooked gardeners. 

Johnson, who spent some years in Shanghai, has made it a mission to shine a light on Asian aspects of Montana life and history. 

Doors open at 5 p.m. for “history happy hour” in Hollensteiner-Stahl Hall. The presentation starts at 6 p.m. The Northwest Montana History Museum is located at 124 Second Ave. E., Kalispell. 

For more information, visit nwmthistory.org or call 406-756-8381. 

    Mark Johnson