Last updated: November 6, 2021
Place
Town of Manzanar
Courtesy County of Inyo, Eastern California Museum
Quick Facts
Location:
Manzanar, CA
Amenities
1 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits
“A wonderful community atmosphere—picnics in the cottonwood grove, Christmas programs, and ice cream socials—brought everyone together in kindred spirit.”
Gladys Graham Branson, former Manzanar town resident
Step back in time along to the early 20th century fruit-growing community that once occupied this area and gave Manzanar its name. In 1910, developer George Chaffey started the town as part of a 3,000-acre agricultural community. By 1920, Manzanar was an oasis of fragrant orchards, hay fields, and gardens. Two hundred people lived here then, many on irrigated farm parcels. Fifty children attended the grammar school. It had “two rooms and two outside conveniences [toilets], plus a shed for the horses,” recalled former student Dorothy Lydston Gates.
Within Manzanar’s town center was the Bandhauer’s General Store, where residents traded farm produce for dry goods and mailed letters at the post office inside. You could buy gas at the garage across the highway and cold cider at the fruit stand nearby. The big community hall housed a library and was the scene of weddings, funerals, and church services. Potluck suppers and old-time dancing often filled the hall with music and laughter far into the night. Packing crews later used it to process tons of Manzanar apples, pears, and peaches to ship across the country.
Advertisements for the Manzanar fruit-growing venture had promised the Lydstons, Wilders, and other families “fortunes in Apples.” But as Los Angeles began buying land and water rights in 1924, many owners sold—some willingly, others under duress—and left. Although others leased back their land and continued farming, the community slowly declined. By the late 1930s, there was little left at Manzanar except abandoned orchards and roads.
Gladys Graham Branson, former Manzanar town resident
Step back in time along to the early 20th century fruit-growing community that once occupied this area and gave Manzanar its name. In 1910, developer George Chaffey started the town as part of a 3,000-acre agricultural community. By 1920, Manzanar was an oasis of fragrant orchards, hay fields, and gardens. Two hundred people lived here then, many on irrigated farm parcels. Fifty children attended the grammar school. It had “two rooms and two outside conveniences [toilets], plus a shed for the horses,” recalled former student Dorothy Lydston Gates.
Within Manzanar’s town center was the Bandhauer’s General Store, where residents traded farm produce for dry goods and mailed letters at the post office inside. You could buy gas at the garage across the highway and cold cider at the fruit stand nearby. The big community hall housed a library and was the scene of weddings, funerals, and church services. Potluck suppers and old-time dancing often filled the hall with music and laughter far into the night. Packing crews later used it to process tons of Manzanar apples, pears, and peaches to ship across the country.
Advertisements for the Manzanar fruit-growing venture had promised the Lydstons, Wilders, and other families “fortunes in Apples.” But as Los Angeles began buying land and water rights in 1924, many owners sold—some willingly, others under duress—and left. Although others leased back their land and continued farming, the community slowly declined. By the late 1930s, there was little left at Manzanar except abandoned orchards and roads.