{"nrhp_refnum":"76000484","name":"Manzanar War Relocation Center, National Historic Site","other_names":["Manzanar Internment Camp","Manzanar Concentration Camp"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"6 mi. S of Independence on CA 395","address_restricted":false,"city":"Independence","county":"Inyo County","state":"CA","lat":36.728333,"lon":-118.154444,"geom_source":"wikidata"},"listed_date":"1976-07-30","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1985-02-04","areas_of_significance":["Social History","Asian","Military"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Manzanar War Relocation Center is a site in Owens Valley, Inyo County, California, between Lone Pine and Independence. It was the first of ten camps built in 1942 to confine people of Japanese ancestry during World War II.","why_significant":"The nomination presents Manzanar as a symbol of a lamentable period in American history, when over 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most of them American citizens, were held by their own nation. It is described as the first camp built and as an important symbol to many Japanese Americans today.","narrative":"Manzanar was a World War II confinement camp in Owens Valley, California, about ten miles north of Lone Pine. After Executive Order 9066 was signed in February 1942, it became the first of ten camps built to hold people of Japanese ancestry. The Army Corps of Engineers directed construction, and the living area held 36 blocks of tar-paper barracks, each with a mess hall, laundry and bath house, and latrines. At its peak about 10,000 people lived there, and residents set up their own kitchens, hospital, schools and recreation facilities. The camp closed in November 1945. Today the desert has reclaimed much of the site, but cement foundations, stone steps, remains of tea gardens, an auditorium, two stone sentry posts and the Soul Consoling Tower remain. The site was listed because it represents the imprisonment of more than 110,000 people, most of them American citizens, and because it remains an important symbol to Japanese Americans. It was named California Historic Landmark #850 in 1972.","period_of_significance":"March, 1942 - September (end date truncated in the text)","architect_builder":"U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (construction direction)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Campsite largely reclaimed by the desert after closure in 1945; remains include foundations, stone steps, a tea garden, an auditorium, two sentry posts, a stone house at the entrance, a cemetery and the Soul Consoling Tower. Form marks the condition as deteriorated and altered.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.994681-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/76000484.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000484/c6cdc8a1ef-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000484/c6cdc8a1ef-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Dorothea Lange","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manzanar_Relocation_Center,_Manzanar,_California._Street_scene_of_barrack_homes..._-_NARA_-_538128_-_restored.png\" rel=\"noopener\">Dorothea Lange</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manzanar_Relocation_Center,_Manzanar,_California._Street_scene_of_barrack_homes..._-_NARA_-_538128_-_restored.png"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858834","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manzanar","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q985484"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/inyo-county/manzanar-war-relocation-center-national-historic-site-76000484/"}