 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2007) |
Jerome War Relocation Center | |
|---|---|
Detainee camp | |
.jpg) Jerome War Relocation Center, 1942 | |
  Jerome War Relocation Center Location of the camp in the state of Arkansas  Jerome War Relocation Center Jerome War Relocation Center (the United States) | |
| Coordinates: 33°24′42″N 91°27′40″W / 33.41167°N 91.46111°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Arkansas |
| Opened | 1942 |
| Closed | 1944 |
| Founded by | War Relocation Authority |
| Population (February 1943) | |
| • Total | 8,497 |
The Jerome War Relocation Center was a Japanese American internment camp located in southeastern Arkansas, near the town of Jerome in the Arkansas Delta. Open from October 6, 1942, until June 30, 1944, it was the last American concentration camp to open and the first to close. At one point it held as many as 8,497 detainees.[1][2] After closing, it was converted into a holding camp for German prisoners of war.[1] Today, few remains of the camp are visible, as the wooden buildings were taken down. The smokestack from the hospital incinerator still stands.
Jerome is located 30 miles (48.3 km) southwest of the Rohwer War Relocation Center,[1] also in the Delta. Due to the large number of Japanese Americans detained there, these two camps were briefly ranked as the fifth- and sixth-largest towns in Arkansas. Both camps were served by the same rail line.
A 10-foot (3.0 m) high granite monument marks the camp location and history. The marker is located on US Highway 165, at County Road 210, approximately 8 miles south of Dermott, Arkansas.
On December 21, 2006, President George W. Bush signed H.R. 1492 into law authorizing $38,000,000 in federal money to preserve the Jerome relocation center, along with nine other former Japanese internment camps.[3]
The PBS documentary film Time of Fear explores the history of these two American concentration camps in Arkansas.[dead link]
- ^ a b c Japanese American Internment Sites Preservation "Japanese American Internment Sites Preservation" Archived 2009-01-06 at the Wayback Machine, a report from the National Park Service.
- ^ Niiya, Brian. "Jerome Archived 2014-05-23 at the Wayback Machine," Densho Encyclopedia. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
- ^ "H.R. 1492". Archived from the original on 2017-09-26. Retrieved 2017-09-01.