Fire at endangered National Treasure Historic Wintersburg

 

ABOVE: On the morning of February 25 just before 9 a.m., fire destroyed the 1910 Wintersburg Japanese Mission's manse (parsonage), one of six historic structures noted as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places in the City of Huntington Beach General Plan. Historic Wintersburg was designated a National Treasure in 2015  and one of America's 11 Most Endangered in 2014 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It was named one of Orange County's Most Endangered Historic Places by Preserve Orange County in 2017. It is considered a historic and cultural resource by the State of California. (Photo courtesy of Patricia Singer, president of the Ocean View School District board of trustees) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Shortly before 9 am, Friday, February 25, there was notification of a fire at endangered National Treasure Historic Wintersburg, located at Warner Avenue and Nichols Lane in Huntington Beach. Community preservationists have worked since 2012 to save and preserve this property, which holds over a century of Japanese American history. 

The 112-year-old manse (parsonage) of the Wintersburg Japanese Mission has been lost. Within a few hours, Republic Services brought in a bulldozer, demolishing and potentially removing evidence needed for an arson investigation and archaeological artifacts. We await further confirmation and information regarding the circumstances of the fire and demolition.

RIGHT: The manse (parsonage) of the Wintersburg Japanese Mission to the left of the Mission building, after both were finished with construction in 1910. The first to live in the manse in 1910 was Reverend Joseph K. Inazawa and his wife, the former Miss Kate Alice Goodman, whose marriage was illegal in California and made international headlines. Read their story: The marriage that made headlines. (Photo courtesy of Wintersburg Church) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Historic Wintersburg and its six structures were named one of America’s Most Endangered Historic Places in 2014 and designated a National Treasure in 2015. Preserve Orange County named Historic Wintersburg one of Orange County’s Most Endangered Historic Places in 2017. 

In recent years beginning in early 2016, Historic Wintersburg was targeted with anti-Asian hate, social media harassment and threats for which police reports were filed.

With local and national partners, the Historic Wintersburg community preservation group has engaged since 2012 Rainbow Disposal and in 2014 new owner Republic Services in discussions to purchase the property for historic preservation purposes. Republic Services has publicly stated to the media they would work with the community effort on the sale for historic preservation purposes but have disengaged the past two years.

ABOVE: Tadashi Kowta in front of the manse in 2013. He lived in the manse as a child when his father, Reverend Sohei Kowta, was clergy for the Wintersburg Japanese Mission. Tadashi Kowta recalled his father being interrogated by the FBI after the attack by Japan at Pearl Harbor in 1941 and their life during WWII incarceration at Poston. He remembered children with the Ocean View elementary school coming to say goodbye to his family. "The whole school seemed to have come to say, 'good bye' to us." Read his story: Reverend Sohei Kowta, The Sunday Before.(Photo, M. Urashima, 2013) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Over the past decade, the community preservationists have contacted Rainbow/Republic repeatedly to provide more security and regular maintenance of the property. The community has provided thousands of dollars’ worth of tree trimming and brush removal, to remove vegetation that put not just the six historic structures at risk, but also the adjacent homes, and the Ocean View School District's Oak View preschool and elementary school at risk.

As recently as two weeks ago, Republic Services and City of Huntington Beach leaders were contacted in writing with photo documentation about vandalism at the property. They did not respond.

ABOVE: Within a few hours, Republic Services drove a bulldozer across the street and began demolishing the remains of the manse, potentially damaging evidence for an arson investigation as well as archaeological artifacts. (Photo image from video courtesy of Oscar Rodriguez, February 25, 2022) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The Historic Wintersburg Preservation group, and partners Preserve Orange County and Heritage Museum of Orange County call upon Republic Services and our community leaders in Huntington Beach, Orange County and California leadership, and national preservation organizations to take action to save and preserve this rare and significant National Treasure historic place. We are calling for an arson investigation on today’s fire.

© All rights reserved.  No part of the Historic Wintersburg blog may be reproduced or duplicated without prior written permission from the author and publisher, M. Adams Urashima. 

Sutra and Bible: Faith and Japanese American World War II Incarceration

ABOVE: The bible of Charles Mitsuji Furuta with his handwritten notes on the date and time he arrived at different prison camps. This notation marks his arrival at the military prison camp in Lordsburg, New Mexico, in September 1942. He was arrested after President Franklin Roosevelt authorized Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, and had been a legal resident of the United States for over four decades. Lordsburg was run like a Prisoner of War camp with communal barracks, a bugle call at 6 a.m. and lights out at 10 p.m. (Photo, M. Urashima, 2018, Courtesy of the Furuta family) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

   The bible of Charles Mitsuji Furuta, Furuta Gold Fish Farm at Historic Wintersburg, is included in an upcoming exhibit, Sutra and Bible: Faith and the Japanese American World War II Incarceration, at the Japanese American National Museum. He was the first Issei baptized as Christian in Orange County and was an elder in the Wintersburg Japanese Mission. At the time of his arrest by the FBI, he had been a legal resident of the United States for over four decades.

   Charles Mitsuji Furuta held the bible with him after his arrest in February 1942, when he was taken to the Huntington Beach jail, then to Tuna Canyon Detention Station in Los Angeles County, then to military prison camps in Santa Fe and then Lordsburg, New Mexico, and, finally, to Poston, the Colorado River Relocation Center in Arizona, where he was reunited with his wife, Yukiko, and their family. He kept a small photograph of Yukiko inside the bible.

RIGHT: A notation in Charles Mitsuji Furuta's bible marking the time of his arrival at the military prison camp in Santa Fe, New Mexico in May 1942. He was imprisoned there roughly four months before being moved to the military prison camp in Lordsburg, New Mexico. He highlighted a passage in the bible. (Photo, Courtesy of the Furuta family) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

    Charles Mitsuji Furuta arrived at the prison camp at Lordsburg, New Mexico, less than two months after the "Lordsburg killings." Two California men in their late 50s, Toshiro Kobata and Hirota Isomura, were shot at close range by Private First Class Clarence Burleson during a two-mile trek through the Chihuahuan Desert. The men had been involved in a camp protest regarding forced labor conditions, illegal under the Geneva Convention as the prisoners were classified as "enemy alien."

   The incident prompted Spain, the intervening power under the Geneva Convention, to issue a memorandum from the Spanish Embassy to the U.S. Department of State. "...Shiro Kobata and Hirota Insomura, who were invalids aged nearly sixty years (60), former suffering from tuberculosis and latter from spinal disease caused by injury sustained while at work in fishing boat, were unable to walk any further, and had to follow party in automobile escorted by soldiers. Party felt uneasy about these two persons, as they failed to join them at Lordsburg Camp. Moreover reports of gun heard in direction of station gave them evil forebodings...It was announced by camp office next morning two invalids had been shot at dawn 27th on charge of attempt to escape. It is inconceivable that aged invalids hardly able to walk should while under military escort have attempted to escape."

   The Spanish Embassy noted the Lordsburg killings and other troubling incidents in an official communication to the State Department in March 13, 1944. "...a Captain fired revolver to urge internees to hasten their work, at another time an internee requesting a sentry to fetch golf ball which had fallen out of fence was fired at from watchtower, and on third occasion internee was fired at while within twenty feet of fence. During 1942 some 20 American convict soldiers were interned at Lordsburg Camp. Japanese internees requested Commandant to remove these convicts to another place, but request was not complied with. On Thanksgiving Day one of convicts, under influence of liquor, intruded into Japanese internees quarters used abusive language, sat astride Doctor Uyehara, and wounded him in back with a knife."

   It was a frightening time during which all civil liberties were lost and the threat of violence was real. Charles Mitsuji Furuta held onto his faith, and the tiny bible with the photograph of Yukiko tucked inside. The upcoming exhibit shares other items of faith held onto by those enduring WWII incarceration.

LEFT: The Furuta family finally was reunited at Poston, the Colorado River Relocation Center near Parker, Arizona. Charles Mitsuji Furuta (front row, far right) had been separated from his family for over a year. The Furutas were able to return home to Wintersburg Village in 1945. (Photo, Courtesy of the Furuta family) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

   The Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles will host an online preview at 10 a.m., Saturday, February 26, with a "virtual preview of many never-before-seen artifacts that tell the stories of how Japanese Americans drew on their faith to survive forced removal and incarceration at a time when their race and religion were seen as threats to national security."

   "Sutra and Bible brings the stories of those faced with sudden, heartbreaking exile to light through an array of astonishing artifacts: from the prayer books and religious scrolls they carried with them into camp, to the altars, prayer beads, embroidered senninbari prayer belts, and memorials they handcrafted through the bleakest times, to keep their spirits alive."

REGISTER for the free online preview at Sutra and Bible: Faith and the Japanese American World War II Incarceration.

© All rights reserved.  No part of the Historic Wintersburg blog may be reproduced or duplicated without prior written permission from the author and publisher, M. Adams Urashima.  

Executive Order 9066: The 2022 Day of Remembrance, 80 years of reckoning

   Eighty years ago on February 19, 1942, Executive Order 9066 was signed by President Franklin Roosevelt. This mandated the forced removal and incarceration of everyone associated with Historic Wintersburg, the Furuta family, clergy and congregation of the Wintersburg Japanese Mission. 

   By the end of May 1942, all Japanese Americans in Orange County were incarcerated at assembly, detention, and concentration centers. The majority were U.S.-born citizens.

LEFT: "Instructions to all persons of Japanese ancestry" posted on an Orange County telephone pole. (Santa Ana Register, May 11, 1942)

   On February 18, 2022, a Presidential proclamation recognizes, "Despite never being charged with a crime, and without due process, Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from their homes and communities and incarcerated, simply because of their heritage.  For years, many Japanese Americans lived in harsh, overcrowded conditions, surrounded by barbed wire fences and armed guards.  Not only did they lose their homes, businesses, property, and savings — they also lost their liberty, security, and the fundamental freedoms that belong to all Americans in equal measure."

   The national Day of Remembrance this year initiated on February 18 and includes a three-day program with the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. 

   WATCH: National Day of Rembrance: 80 Years of Reckoning. (click link)

   ONLINE PROGRAM SCHEDULE: Smithsonian's National Museum of American History program schedule and links (click link) to online programs February 18 to 20, including the opening program and six live-streamed panel discussions.

RIGHT: The bible carried by Charles Mitsuji Furuta, Furuta Gold Fish Farm at Historic Wintersburg, as he was taken first to the Huntington Beach jail, then to Tuna Canyon Detention Station, to military prison camps in Santa Fe and Lordsburg, New Mexico, and finally, to Poston, the Colorado River Relocation Center in Arizona. He was arrested and separated from his family within two days of Executive Order 9066 and was reunited with them over a year later at Poston. He had been a legal resident of the United States for over four decades. (Photo, M. Urashima, Courtesy of the Furuta family)

  "Executive Order 9066 sounds so bureaucratic, so government, so normal. But behind the blandness is pain. Behind the plainness, is grave injustice." says Koji Tomita, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the United States in the opening program with the White House. "Why do we remember an event that caused so much anguish? We do so to remember those who suffered as a result of it. We do so that we will not forget the lessons we learned from those dark times. The significance of this American national experience is not confined to Americans only or to Japanese Americans only. It matters to all of us around the world who believe in liberty and justice for our citizens. It matters today and it will matter for all the years ahead."

LEFT: Tadashi Kowta at Historic Wintersburg in 2013, standing in front of the manse where he lived as a child while his father, Reverend Sohei Kowta, served as clergy for the Wintersburg Japanese Mission. Read the Kowta family's story, Reverend Sohei Kowta: The Sunday Before."

   Ambassador Tomita spoke about the strength of the relationship between Japan and the United States and recognized the years of effort by Japanese Americans to gain formal apology and redress, ultimately leading to the signing by President Ronald Reagan of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. 

   "This redressing of injustice says something about the fundamental strength of American society in having the courage to admit an error and right the wrong...The struggle for perfection amid imperfection---I believe this is one of the attributes that has made the United States a great and respected nation."

© All rights reserved.  No part of the Historic Wintersburg blog may be reproduced or duplicated without prior written permission from the author and publisher, M. Adams Urashima.