Look ahead for a two-story red-brick building with faded signs that read “Mai Wah Noodles & Chop Suey” along the top-its green and red window trims will help you spot it right on West Mercury Street.
Imagine you’re walking through Butte in the early 1900s: the smell of sizzling noodles coming from the Mai Wah Noodle Parlor, conversations drifting in English and Chinese, and stacks of imported goods crowding the Wah Chong Tai Mercantile next door. These historic storefronts were once the busy heart of America’s largest Chinatown between Minneapolis and Seattle-and if you think Montana isn’t the place for a plate of classic chop suey, you might be surprised! Chin Hin Doon traveled all the way from Guangdong, escaping famine, and by 1894 had carved out a thriving spot in Butte’s wild mix of copper and culture. His son Albert ran the shop through the decades, selling everything from tea to silk, and even offering beds to Chinese miners and merchants in need of a home (it wasn’t exactly the Hilton, but it did the trick). Today, the museum overflows with 2,500 artifacts, and the Wah Chong Tai building remains the country’s only original Chinese store of its kind. Thanks to a wave of modern support-like a grant for restoration in 2018-the spirit of Butte’s Chinatown is alive, resilient, and ready to serve up some stories with those noodles.
