Manzanar National Historic Site: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Manzanar National Historic Site, National Park Service
Fitzgerald K. 2010. Manzanar National Historic Site: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Manzanar National Historic Site, National Park Service. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 725221. NPS Pacific West Regional Office. Pacific West Regional Office/CLI Database
Manzanar National Historic Site, an approximately 814-acre designed landscape, is located in Inyo County, California, twelve miles north of Lone Pine, and five miles south of Independence. This region in east central California, which forms the western margin of the Great Basin and the northern edge of the Mojave Desert, is known as the Owens Valley. The western wall of the Owens Valley is defined by the escarpment of the Sierra Nevada; the White-Inyo Mountains form the eastern wall. The period of significance of the site extends from 1925 to 1945. These dates encompass pre camp conditions at the Manzanar site, including features associated with agricultural development in the area as well as later development associated with the Manzanar War Relocation Center. The primary focus of this document is on the internment era, 1942 to 1945, in which the site derives its primary significance. The principal development of Manzanar War Relocation Center occurred in a very brief period during the spring and summer of 1942. During that same time, Japanese and Japanese-Americans were relocated to the camp as part of the effort established by Executive Order 9066, which allowed the military to designate areas "from which any or all persons may be excluded." Over the next three-and-one-half years, Manzanar continued to evolve as the internees improved the scrub desert environment with victory gardens, ponds and waterfalls, lawns, and other landscape features to make the camp more inhabitable. Following the closure of the camp in 1945, most of the buildings and structures, except the auditorium, were sold to various organizations or private individuals, leaving only the footprints of most of the structures. However, remaining features from historic camp era, including the auditorium, two sentry posts, the road grid, and ruins and trace features, including walkways, concrete block foundations, masonry work, and garden pond and waterfall structures remain as testimony to the temporary city that once housed 10,000 relocated Japanese-Americans. Furthermore, the remnant orchard trees and ornamental vegetation related to both the township and camp eras are also contributing features. Manzanar National Historic Site is nationally significant under Criteria A and D, retains integrity, and is in fair condition. Those landscape characteristic associated with the significance of the site include; Natural Systems and Features, Spatial Organization, Land Use, Cultural Traditions, Vegetation, Circulation, Buildings and structures, Cluster Arrangement, Archeological Sites.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Fitzgerald, Kathleen
- Date of Issue
- 2010-09-29
- Publisher
- NPS Pacific West Regional Office
- Units
- MANZ , PWR
- Keywords
- Agriculture, Asian, barracks, Correctional Facility, Designed National Landmark, domestic, Ethnic Heritage, Historic Designed Landscape, Japanense Internment, Japanese-American, Manzanar Concentration Camp, Manzanar Internment Camp, Manzanar War Relocation Center, Military, National Historic Site, residential, Small-scale Commerical Agriculture, Social History, War Relocation Authority, Wartime Civil Control Administration, World War II
- Subjects
- CRIS-CL: 725221: Manzanar National Historic Site