Parkville, MO - The Battle of Parkville

As Order 9066 relocated Japanese Americans from the West Coast further inland, the Midwest became involved in the incarceration narrative. While Missouri did not have a designated Japanese American incarceration camp, Kansas Citians and surrounding residents experienced the impact of the Order firsthand through the actions of academic institutions. One such institution was Park College, reclassified as Park University in 2000, located in Parkville, Missouri (History of Park University). Presently, Parkville, Missouri, located about 10 miles northwest of Kansas City, Missouri, continues to serve as Park University's home campus.

Parkville, a town of about 600 residents at the time, served as a suburb of the Kansas City metropolitan area. According to the 1940 census, Kansas City, Kansas, had a total Japanese population of six residents, with Kansas City, Missouri, totaling five (Sixteenth Census of the United States, 6). Considering the population of both halves of Kansas City totaled over 100,000 people, it can be assumed that Parkville would not have had a significant Japanese population among its small ranks. Thus, the people of Parkville most likely did not have previous exposure to Japanese Americans or Japanese immigrants prior to the war.

Parkville, Missouri, served as the home of Park College, now Park University, a Presbyterian college established in 1875. In 1942, the President of Park College believed the admittance of Nisei students would not initially spark hostility among the people of Parkville. However, there grew to be a group of resistance within the community. Led by the Mayor of Parkville, Herbert A. Dyer, the opposition to the admittance of Nisei students at Park University was coined the "Battle of Parkville" or the "Parkville Controversy."

“History of Park University.” Park University. Accessed May 10, 2023. https://catalog.park.edu/content.php?catoid=6&navoid=573. 

Ito, Leslie A. “Japanese American Women and the Student Relocation Movement, 1942-1945.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 21, no. 3 (2000): 1–24. https://doi.org/10.2307/3347107. 

“Letter explaining that Park College is across a creek from the small community of Parkville of between 600-700 people. Requesting a waiver regarding needing local public official approval,” Letter from Dr. William Lindsay Young to Joseph Conrad, July 2, 1942, located in Francis Fishburn Archives and Special Collections, Park University Nisei Collection, Park University, Parkville, MO, ID: PC-L-1942.1.171. 

Okihiro, Gary Y. Storied Lives: Japanese American Students and World War II. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2011. 

Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940, Population: Characteristics of the Nonwhite Population by Race (Washington: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1943), https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1943/dec/population-nonwhite.html, pg. 6.