National Parks:
Manzanar National Historic Site

Independence, California -- Manzanar National Historic Site was established in 1992 to tell the stories of the relocation of nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. Manzanar was the first of ten war relocation centers. In operation from April 1942 through November 1945, it was the largest wartime "city" between Los Angeles and Reno. At Manzanar, the National Park Service also tells the stories of the centuries-long occupation of the area by Owens Valley Paiute, late 1800's cattle ranching homesteads, and the Manzanar fruit orchard community of the early 1900s.

DID YOU KNOW

• Manzanar, the Spanish word for "apple orchard," was a planned agricultural community with an estimated 20,000 apple trees in the early 1900s.
• The City of Los Angeles bought Manzanar in the 1920s for additional water rights in the Owens Valley.
• President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, authorizing the Army to remove "any or all persons" from strategic areas. The order was applied to select German and Italian aliens, but to ALL persons of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast.
• A total of 11,070 Japanese Americans spent all or part of World War II at Manzanar. 541 babies were born in the camp; 150 people died there.
• The War Relocation Authority (WRA) was an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
• NPS staff worked closely with former internees, local residents, subject matter experts, academics, and interested others as part of the extensive public involvement in the creation of the interpretive center media and exhibits.

DON'T MISS ATTRACTIONS

• Manzanar National Historic Site celebrated the long-awaited Grand Opening of its Interpretive Center and Park Headquarters on April 24, 2004. Located in a historic auditorium constructed by internees in 1944, the facility includes 8,000 square feet of exhibits, two small movie theaters, park offices, and a bookstore operated by the new Manzanar History Association. Exhibits and audio-visual programs rely extensively on oral histories, historic photographs, and primary source documents to interpret "One Camp. Ten Thousand Lives; One Camp. Ten Thousand Stories."
• Manzanar National Historic Site also recently premiered an expanded website, offering virtual visitors a comprehensive depiction of Manzanar's past, present, and future.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE PRIORITIES

With the Grand Opening of the Interpretive Center, the National Park Service and its partners in the Japanese American and local communities celebrate a major milestone. While the transformation of the historic auditorium to the interpretive center is Manzanar's most visible endeavor, there are numerous concurrent projects in progress:

• Completion of a comprehensive Cultural Landscape Report.
• Development of a "Demonstration Block" to include a historic World War II mess hall (moved to the site in December 2002) and other structures.
• Reconstruction of one of eight guard towers, funded by the new Friends of Manzanar.
• Stabilization of historic orchards, including century-old fruit trees from the Manzanar farming community.
• Stabilization and preservation of rock gardens, ponds, and other landscape features.
• Ongoing historical research and archeological surveys.
• Collection and preservation of oral histories from former internees, camp staff, military police, and local residents.
• Continued efforts to tell Manzanar's many stories through personal interpretive services, outreach programs, publications, wayside exhibits, and other media.
• Establishment of a shared curatorial facility with the Eastern California Museum, as outlined in Manzanar's approved 1996 General Management Plan.

Source: National Park Service