Japanese American Internment Sites 1942-1946

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1. Santa Anita Park During World War II-Japanese Relocation and Military Training Centers

Santa Anita Park served two purposes during WWII. From March 1942 until October 1942, it served as an assembly and processing center for Japanese Americans prior to their displacement of internment camps across the United States. In all, over 20,000 Japanese Americans were processed there. After October 1942 until 1945 the property was utilized as the largest ordnance training center on the West Coast --Camp Santa Anita. During these years, over 100,000 soldiers were trained there. Prior to the war Santa Anita Park served as a horse racing park. Racing resumed after VE day in May 1945.

2. Manzanar National Historic Site

After the authorization of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, the War Relocation Authority established ten major incarceration centers at which over 120,000 American citizens of Japanese descent and Japanese immigrants were confined. The former Manzanar Relocation Center opened as a temporary "reception center" under the control of the Wartime Civil Control Administration on March 22, 1942, until the War Relocation Authority oversaw control of the camp on June 1, 1942. At its peak, the camp held 10,046 people. Manzanar closed on November 21, 1945, after the end of World War II.

3. Tule Lake Unit of World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument

Located southeast of Tulelake, California, the Tule Lake Unit, World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument is the former site of one of the ten Japanese internment camps during World War II. It was built in 1942 and was initially called the Tule Lake War Relocation Center but it was renamed (and security upgraded) a year later to the Tule Lake Segregation Center. It became a maximum security camp for those proved to be "disloyal" or who protested conditions at other camps. Draft resisters were also held at there. The World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument commemorates sites of major importance in the Pacific theater of the war. It comprises nine different sites; the camp is the only one located in the contiguous United States. At its peak it held over 18,000 prisoners (the total number of prisoners at the camps reached 120,000). Immediately after the war it served as a holding place for Japanese Americans who were going to be either expatriated or deported to Japan. The camp finally closed for good in March 1946. Many prisoners filed a class action lawsuit to regain their citizenship but this did not come to fruition until twenty years later. The camp is fenced off but visitors can stop next to it and look inside. There is also a sign posted describing the history of the camp. The site—which includes the internment camp, a 1935 Civilian Conservation Corps Camp, and the Peninsula/Castle Rock formation—is a California Historical Landmark, a National Historic Landmark, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. There is a camp visitor center in Tulelake and it is open weekdays from 9:30-4:30. Tours of the internment and CCC camps are offered from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

4. Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial

On March 30, 1942, two hundred twenty–seven men, women and children — two–thirds of them American citizens — were forcibly removed from their homes by US Army soldiers and put on a ferry to Seattle's Bainbridge Island. These were just the first of nearly 120,000 other Nikkei — people of Japanese ancestry – who were exiled from their homes on the West Coast following Executive Order 9066. This action by President Franklin Roosevelt on February 19, 1942 was followed by Civilian Exclusion Order No. 1 on March 24, 1942. Together these orders and the actions of military and civilian leaders resulted in the internment of people of Japanese descent in Washington and throughout the West Coast. The memorial commemorates and honors the people involved — both those exiled and their island neighbors — and brings awareness of the powerful capacity of human beings and a nation to heal, forgive and care for one another.

5. Minidoka National Historic Site

Minidoka National Historical Site marks the location of one of ten "relocation centers" in the country that were built to imprison Japanese and Japanese Americans during World War II. Minidoka was the largest of the forced relocation centers in America, holding approximately 13,000 people over the course of three years. The site, threatened by development, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, became a National Monument in 2001, and then a National Historic Site in 2008, which federally acknowledges its historical significance. Today, the site includes a 1.6 mile interpretive trail with signs that point out some of the ruins of the relocation center and its history. One of the buildings is used as a visitor center where it is possible to pick up brochures and maps of the site.

6. Topaz (Central Utah Relocation Center)

The Central Utah Relocation Center, known as Topaz, was a prison camp where Americans of Japanese descent were confined during World War II. Located 16 miles northwest of Delta in central Utah, on the lip of the Great Basin, Topaz was one of the smaller of the ten War Relocation Authority camps. The structures of the camp were moved or demolished after the camp closed in 1945, however the camp location can be viewed. A total of 11,212 people were incarcerated at Topaz during its operation from September 11, 1942 to October 31, 1945. The nearby Topaz Museum in Delta, Utah, exhibits the history of Topaz and provides displays about the camp and camp life.

7. Colorado River Relocation Center

The Colorado River Relocation Center, known as Poston, was a War Relocation Authority prison camp during World War II where Americans of Japanese ancestry were incarcerated. Poston was the largest of the ten concentration camps operated by the War Relocation Authority and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2012. At its peak, the complex house more than 17,000 people. The remaining structures of the Poston school complex are the only extant example of an elementary school complex built within a War Relocation Authority confinement site. The Poston Memorial Monument was built in 1992 on tribal land and with tribal support, and still stands.

8. Gila River War Relocation Memorial

The Gila River Relocation Center, or Rivers Relocation Center, is one of the two World War II prison camps located on American Indian Reservations in Arizona at which Americans of Japanese descent were incarcerated. It was located about 30 miles (48.3 km) southeast of Phoenix. It became Arizona's fourth-largest city during World War II, with a peak population of 13,348.

9. Heart Mountain Relocation Center

Throughout World War II, Japanese from Oregon, Washington, and California were moved to the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Park County, Wyoming. This act was in response to an executive order issued by President Franklin Roosevelt. The Japanese here stayed from the 12 August 1942 to 10 November 1945, two months following the closing of WWII with Japan. When the camp reached its peak, it was home to over 10,000 people.

10. Granada War Relocation Center; Camp Amache

Granada War Relocation Center was one of 10 "relocation centers" operated by the War Relocation Authority during WWII. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, President Roosevelt authorized the forced relocation of Japanese Americans with Executive Order 9066. During the spring of 1942, around 120,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from their communities and placed in internment camps known as "relocation centers" like Granada. The site of the former camp was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 18, 1994.

11. World War II Japanese-American Internment Museum

The WWII Japanese American Internment Museum opened in April 2013 and is housed in the renovated McGehee Railroad Depot. The Museum shares the history of the 17,147 Americans of Japanese descent who were imprisoned at nearby Jerome and Rohwer during World War II. The Museum is a good place to learn about the history, before visiting the former prison camp sites at Rohwer and Jerome. The Missouri Pacific Railroad Depot-McGehee was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

This Tour is a Digital Story Map.

Japanese American Internment Sites 1942-1946

Created by Aaron Barnhart on June 20th 2017, 5:04:55 am.

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Ten War Relocation Centers housed more than 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent during World War II. Internees were removed from their homes in the Military Exclusion Zone that spanned the entire West Coast. Legislation signed in 2006 provided for federal funding to restore and interpret these sites, with additional funding and leadership from local organizers. Some of these sites are still being developed, while others have been richly interpreted. But each of these sites contains thousands of stories.

Entries on This Tour

Japanese American Internment Sites 1942-1946

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