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Show PERIOD (Check One arMore as Appropriate) o Pre-Columbian I o 151h Century SPECIFIC DATEISl 0 16th Century o 17th Century o 18th Century o 191h Century [g! 20th Century (lfApplicable lIndKnownJ AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE (Check One or More as Appropriate) Aboriginal o Prehistoric o Historic o Agriculture o Architecture DArt o Commerce ,0 Communications o Canservatian 0 Educati on o Engineering o Industry p 'In'venlion o Landscape Arch i te cture o Literature Gi Military o Music ' IX! Political o Religion/Phi_ , DUrban P/anni!,g o Other (Specify) losophy o Science o Sculpture [XI Socia I/Humanitarian o Theater o Transportation STATEMENT OF SiGNIFICANCE z o z w w The Topaz War Relocation Center was one of ten camps established in the United States to house the Japanese evacuees from the West Coast. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, fear of lJenemy aliens! 11 in the United States was so great that President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Executive Order 9066 which gave the Army blanket power to deal with the enemy alien problem. Un<;ler this order General John L. DeWitt, commanding general of the Western Defense Command in San Francisco, issued Public Proclamation No. 1 which announced that all persons of Japanese ancestry would eventually be removed from the West Coast "as a matter of military necessity. II The Wartime Civil Control Administration was established to supervise the evacuation. At first the evacuation was voluntary and almost 5,000 did move, principally to Utah and Colorado. Many of these voluntary evacuees ran into trouble as they were greeted with "No Japs Wanted" signs and turned back by border guards and armed posses. On March 27, 1942 the voluntary evacuation was halted and the army began a program of compulsory evacuation. Officially known as the Central Utah War Relocation Center, Topaz was opened September 11, 1942. Named for the nearby Topaz Mountain, the camp consisted of 19,800 acres and was designed to house 9,000 person. The camp was constructed between July 1942 and January 1943 by a California firm (Daley Brothers) under a contract let by the United States Corps of Engineers. The cost was $3,929,000 with more than 800 men involved in the construction. The eventual cost was estimated at five million dollars with another five million dollars required annually for the operation of the camp. Throughout the three-year history of the camp, crime was almost nonexistent among the 8,000 evacuees. There were only two cases of aggravated assault, two of grand larceny and one of destrOying government property. Trouble was feared, however, when a sentry, enforcing a camp regulation which forbade any alien to approach the outer fence, shot and killed an elderly Japanese man. A mass funeral was held and a vigorous protest made to camp officials. Residents of the ca mp were involved in various enterprises including agriculture, furniture-making, brick making sheet metal manufacturing and numerous single-employee jobs and services. Most enterprises were intended to meet the needs of the community. Some 3,000 students passed through the Topaz School system. A newspaper Topaz Times was published. The camp was closed October 31, 1945. Although there are only a few ruins, the site is significant because it symbolizes the extreme degree of prejudice and war hysteria that was directed against Japanese and persons (see continuation sheet) I I :1 :\ i ' .! ,I I ,j ! I .\ |
