Ah Fong

Dr. Cheuck “C.K.” Ah Fong - Chinese Medicine in Boise

Dr. C.K. Ah Fong, Idaho State Archives, P1970-178-1

Basement of the Hip Sing Building just prior to demolition. Idaho State Archives, 72-100.90/M

Among Boise’s most well-known residents was Dr. Cheuck “C. K.” Ah Fong, who practiced traditional Chinese medicine in Boise during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Dr. Ah Fong was born in Canton, China circa 1844, and immigrated to the United States with his father. Dr. Ah Fong then moved to Idaho in the 1860s and began practicing medicine in remote mining towns of the Boise Basin, first in Atlanta and then in Rocky Bar. He eventually moved to Boise and established a practice in Boise’s Chinatown.

During the early 1860s, many Chinese people moved to Idaho hoping to strike it rich in the territory’s remote mining areas. While Chinese miners worked to extract gold and silver from mining sites, other Chinese immigrants pursued occupations outside of mining. Among these professions were Chinese doctors who practiced traditional Chinese medicine and served both their Chinese countrymen and Idaho residents at large. Traditional Chinese medicine had been practiced the United States since the colonial era, and Chinese doctors in Boise and the surrounding areas developed loyal patient followings.

In addition to practicing traditional medicine, Dr. Ah Fong imported medicines and sold them wholesale to customers and other Chinese pharmacies regionally. Most significantly, Dr. Ah Fong became the first Chinese doctor in Idaho to be fully licensed as a physician and surgeon. In 1899, Dr. Ah Fong was denied a license to practice medicine in Idaho, and in response, he took the State of Idaho to court over its discriminatory licensing practices. The case was appealed all the way to the Idaho Supreme Court and was finally decided in his favor. Dr. Ah Fong’s practice was handed down first to his son, Herbert, and then to his grandson, Gerald, who continued to practice in Boise until the 1960s. When Gerald Ah Fong retired and closed the practice in 1965, he left many items behind in the Hip Sing Building. The Idaho State Historical Society recovered artifacts and files from the remains of the Ah Fong apothecary on the eve of the Hip Sing Building’s demolition during Boise’s urban renewal era.

“But there were a lot of artifacts in there, things that had come from China, a lot of antiques. But the most important thing was the wall of herbs that my dad had. Later it was found to be the largest intact collection of Chinese herbs ever found. So, researchers from the University of California came and catalogued what was in the herb boxes and also found recipes of remedies that were a thousand years old. A lot of the things, the herbs and things like that – well, they spent quite an amount of time cataloging those and identifying those.” – Richard Ah Fong, great-grandson of Dr. C.K. Ah Fong, on the items salvaged from his father’s practice in the Hip Sing Building, City of Boise oral history project

References

For a complete list of references, please contact artsandhistory@cityofboise.org and mention "Ah Fong".