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| Landmark #934-2 | Fresno County | Visited: February 18, 2013 | Plaque? YES! 🙂 |
| What is it? | A circular display of informative signs around a fountain! |
| What makes it historical? | THE GUIDE SAYS: The temporary detention camps (also known as “assembly centers”) represent the first phase of the mass incarceration of 97,785 Californians of Japanese ancestry during World War II. Pursuant to Executive Order 9066 signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, thirteen makeshift detention facilities were constructed at various California racetracks, fairgrounds, and labor camps. These facilities were intended to confine Japanese Americans until more permanent concentration camps, such as those at Manzanar and Tule Lake in California, could be built in isolated areas of the country. Beginning on March 30, 1942, all native-born Americans and long-time legal residents of Japanese ancestry living in California were ordered to surrender themselves for detention.
OTHER TIDBITS: Pinedale was a lesser known assembly center, because most of its prisoners weren’t local. The Californian Nissei were from Amador and Sacramento Counties, while the remainder were from as far away as Oregon and Washington! 4,823 people passed through these gates between May 7 and July 23, 1942 en route to permanent internment camps in northern California and Arizona! After this assembly center was cleared, it became a training center for Army Air Forces signal technicians. |
| How can I Help the Helpers? | HERE’S HOW:
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| Where is this place? | LISTED DIRECTIONS: Pinedale ANNOTATIONS: 625 W Alluvial Ave From Los Angeles: ~228mi (367km) — 3.8hrs |
| When should I go? | Whenever the mood strikes you! |
