Camp Amache - Granada, CO - Colorado Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

"By Executive Order 9066, over 10,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry were imprisoned at the Granada Relocation Center in Granada, Colorado. They were kept under armed guard from 1942-1945. Located 1.7 miles west of Granada, the camp was nicknamed "Camp Amache" after the Cheyanne wife of John Prowers, the man for whom the county was named.

On May 18, 1994, Amache was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and was designated a National Historic Landmark on February 10, 2006. (From (visit link) )"

The story of the forced Japanese Relocation during WWII is a blotch on America's history. Colorado Governor Carr, at the cost of his political career, was the only western-state governor to welcome the Japanese Americans and speak out on their behalf. Camp Amache was located in a desolate area of Colorado and held over 7,300 Japanese Americans and Japanese immigrants (who were prohibited by law to become US citizens). This population number made Amache one of the 10 most populated cities in Colorado at the time. Further information may be found at the National Park Service website (visit link) , as well as (visit link) , (visit link) , (visit link) , (visit link) and (visit link) .

There is a monument located in the former camp's cemetery. This monument was placed by the Denver Central Optimist Club in 1983. It is located in the cemetery of Camp Amache Japanese American Relocation Center just east of Granada, Colorado. The inscription reads:

"Dedicated to the 31 patriotic Japanese Americans who volunteered from Amache and dutifully gave their lives in World War II, to the approximately 7,000 persons who were relocated at Amache, and to the 120 who died here during this period of relocation,
August 27, 1942 - October 14, 1945.

Sponsored by the Denver Central Optimist Club"

The students at Granada High School are working to preserve and develop the ruins of Camp Amache into an educational site to best understand how the U.S. government could deprive American citizens who had done nothing but possess ethnicity be deprived of their rights and property. Visit their site at (visit link) .

Group or Groups Responsible for Placement: Amache Preservation Society; U.S. Dept. of Interior, National Park Service County or City: Granada Date Dedicated: 2006 Check here for Web link(s) for additional information: [Web Link]

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