Cover Page

Table of Contents

Abstract

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Essay

Brief History

Gila River

Granada

Heart Mountain

Jerome

Manzanar

Minidoka

Poston

Rohwer

Topaz

Tule Lake

Isolation Centers

Add'l Facilities

Assembly Centers

DoJ and US Army Facilities

Prisons

References

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites by J. Burton, M. Farrell, F. Lord, and R. Lord

Chapter 5 (continued)
Granada Relocation Center

Interpretation

The Granada Relocation Center is marked on a large wall map at the State of Colorado Welcome Center in Lamar and it is mentioned in several tourist brochures available at the Welcome Center. The relocation center itself is 16 miles east of Lamar, one-half mile south of U.S. Highway 50. In 1994, the turnoff to the site was indicated by a small wood sign nailed to a tree (Figure 5.63).

The central area of the relocation center is completely fenced and is currently used for cattle grazing. In addition, the town of Granada operates a dump in the northwest corner of the parcel. Access into the site and to the memorial at the relocation center cemetery is through the dump entrance, which limits visiting to hours when the dump is open. Inside the fenced area nearly all of the relocation center roads are passable. Additional signs direct visitors to the relocation center cemetery, where there are marked graves, and the brick structure with the granite slab monument, described above.

A 10-foot-tall monument, with "Amache Remembered" inscribed at the top, was placed at the cemetery by the Denver Central Optimists Club in 1983 (Figure 5.64). The text says in English that the monument is "dedicated to the 31 patriotic Japanese Americans who volunteered from Amache and dutifully gave their lives in World War II, to the approximately 7000 persons who were relocated at Amache, and to the 120 who died there during this period of relocation, August 27, 1942, October 15, 1945." On the sides of the monument are the names of the 31 soldiers.

Figure 5.63. Sign along U.S. Highway 50 in 1994.

Figure 5.64. Monument placed at the Granada Relocation Center Cemetery in 1983.

At nearby Granada High School, students under the direction of teacher John Hopper have researched the relocation center, contacted former evacuees for information, and constructed a scale model (Figure 5.65). The relocation center site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994; the nomination form, prepared by Simmons and Simmons (1993), summarizes the history of the relocation centers and provides many details about the camp layout and operations, and includes stories garnered from the local press about how the center was perceived by local residents.

Figure 5.65. Scale model of the Granada Relocation Center built by Granada High School students Renee Bochatey, Mike Bridge, Greg Grasmick, Tommy Grasmick, Tonya Malone, Melissa Medina, and Brett Schnabel.

In 1994 the state of Colorado provided funds to improve access and refurbish some of the site, and in 1998 the Denver Optimist Club received a grant from the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund to develop the site. Plans call for installation of interpretive signs, development of a walking/driving tour, and the construction of gravel paths, one through a typical barracks block and one at the cemetery.

Last Modified: Fri, Sep 1 2000 07:08:48 pm PDT
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/anthropology74/ce5j.htm