Manzanar

This article is about the World War II internment camp. For the former community in Owens Valley, California, see Manzanar, California. For other uses, see Manzanar (disambiguation).

Manzanar War Relocation Center
A hot windstorm brings dust from the surrounding desert, July 3, 1942
Manzanar is located in California
Manzanar
Manzanar is located in the United States
Manzanar
LocationInyo County, California
Nearest cityIndependence, California
Coordinates36°43′42″N 118°9′16″W / 36.72833°N 118.15444°W / 36.72833; -118.15444
Area814 acres (329 ha)
Built1942
Visitation97,382[1] (2019)
WebsiteManzanar National Historic Site
NRHP reference No.76000484
CHISL No.850
LAHCM No.160
Significant dates
Added to NRHPJuly 30, 1976[5]
Designated NHLFebruary 4, 1985[6]
Designated NHSMarch 3, 1992[7]
Designated CHISL1972[2][3]
Designated LAHCMSeptember 15, 1976[4]

Manzanar is the site of one of ten American concentration camps, where more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II from March 1942 to November 1945. Although it had over 10,000 inmates at its peak, it was one of the smaller internment camps. It is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains in California's Owens Valley, between the towns of Lone Pine to the south and Independence to the north, approximately 230 miles (370 km) north of Los Angeles. Manzanar means "apple orchard" in Spanish. The Manzanar National Historic Site, which preserves and interprets the legacy of Japanese American incarceration in the United States, was identified by the United States National Park Service as the best-preserved of the ten former camp sites.

The first Japanese Americans arrived at Manzanar in March 1942, just one month after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, to build the camp their families would be staying in. Manzanar was in operation as an internment camp from 1942 until 1945.[8] Since the last of those incarcerated left in 1945, former detainees and others have worked to protect Manzanar and to establish it as a National Historic Site to ensure that the history of the site, along with the stories of those who were incarcerated there, is recorded for current and future generations. The primary focus is the Japanese American incarceration era, as specified in the legislation that created the Manzanar National Historic Site. The site also interprets the former town of Manzanar, the ranch days, the settlement by the Owens Valley Paiute, and the role that water played in shaping the history of the Owens Valley.

  1. ^ "Manzanar NHS". National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior. 2020. Archived from the original on April 21, 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  2. ^ Embrey (1998), p. 19.
  3. ^ "California Historical Landmarks – Inyo County". California State Parks, Office of Historical Preservation, State of California. Archived from the original on April 1, 2014. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  4. ^ "Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM) List: City Declared Monuments" (PDF). City of Los Angeles, Office of Historical Resources, Cultural Heritage Commission. July 22, 2013. Archived from the original on August 4, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2014.
  5. ^ "Manzanar National Historic Site: Park Statistics (U.S. National Park Service)". National Park Service. Archived from the original on February 12, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2014.
  6. ^ "National Historic Landmarks Program – National Park Service: Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State" (PDF). National Park Service. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  7. ^ "H.R.543 – Japanese American National Historic Landmark Theme Study Act". U.S. Congress. March 3, 1992. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  8. ^ 104