A Iapanese Picture Bride in Montana

In November 1915, a well-dressed woman got off the train from Seattle at Whitefish MT, accompanied by her husband. Her new home was nicknamed "Stumptown," although the townspeople had, by then, cleared Central Avenue of tree Stumps and laid cement sidewalks. Since its establishment in 1995...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Montana : the magazine of western history 2020-04, Vol.70 (1), p.27-43
Main Author: Tolbert, Kathryn
Format: Magazinearticle
Language:English
Subjects:
Immigrants
Japanese Americans
Japanese culture
Masuoka, Aya Hayashi Hori
Nicknames
Noncitizens
Women
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Summary:In November 1915, a well-dressed woman got off the train from Seattle at Whitefish MT, accompanied by her husband. Her new home was nicknamed "Stumptown," although the townspeople had, by then, cleared Central Avenue of tree Stumps and laid cement sidewalks. Since its establishment in 1995, Whitefish had quickly become a thriving timber and railway community, and the woman, Aya Hayashi Hori, had just married one of its most prosperous businessmen, Mokutaro Hori. Hayashi Hori's arrival in Whitefish was an important crossroad in a long life that began in Japan in 1882 and ended in Montana ninety years later. She embraced the US as her home yet cherished her Japanese culture, finding a delicate balance that allowed her to both thrive in the US and, eventually, offer support to other young women from Japan. Aya's story reveals how historic forces and personal choices shaped an Asian immigrant woman's experiences in the West.
ISSN:0026-9891
2328-4293