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Camp Amache is one of ten Japanese American Internment camps established across the country by the Federal Government in 1942 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It was the only Japanese internment camp located in Colorado.
127,000 Japanese Americans were living in the United States at the dawn of World War II and the majority of these were U.S. born citizens. Nearly 90% of Japanese Americans were concentrated on the West Coast and most resided in California.
In February 1942, two months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 resulting in the removal of 110,000 Japanese Americans from their homes to 10 inland internment camps.
Construction of Camp Amache in Granada began in June, 1942. By the end of October, there were 7,318 Japanese Americans, largely from southern California, detained at Granada. The dirt-floored barracks and communal buildings of the Relocation Center occupied an entire square-mile of treeless prairie surrounded by barbed wire fences and six guard towers manned with guards and machine guns pointed into the camp.
Those interned grew and raised their own food. Many internees continued to practice their professions as doctors, dentists, nurses and teachers. The camp had a fire department, library, theater, school and churches. In 1943, the US government allowed Japanese born US citizens to enlist in the military. A total of 953 men and women from the camp volunteered for military service and 31 were killed in action. In October 1945, following the end of World War II, the Granada Relocation Center was closed. Most internees returned to their former homes in California and the buildings of the camp were quickly dismantled.
Today, the only standing structure at the site is a monument built after the war to memorialize the internees who were killed in action during World War II. Surrounding the memorial is a cemetery where people who passed away while living at the camp are buried. The foundations of former camp buildings and camp roadways are still evident.
Camp Amache is located on Route 50 just west of Granada. Interpretive signs established by the Amache Preservation Society, the Denver Optimist Club and the National Park Service tell the story of Camp Amache. New interpretive kiosks have recently been installed at the entrance to the site to greet and orient visitors to Amache. Ample parking is available.
FUN FACTS TO KNOW AND TELL The Granada Relocation Center was the smallest of the 10 Japanese Internment Camps
Forty-three years after the camp closed, President Reagan declared the interment a "grave injustice"
Granada Relocation Camp came to be known as Camp Amache due to a mail mix-up between the Camp and the Town of Granada. Amache, a Cheyenne Indian was the wife of John Prowers. Prowers is the name of the county where the Camp was located.
OTHER PLACES TO VISIT Bent's Old Fort National Historic SiteBoggsville Historic Site
BEST TIMES TO VISITSite is open daily. Temperatures at the Amache can be very warm during the summer months.
BYWAYS Santa Fe Trail Scenic and Historic Byway
OTHER WEBSITESwww.SEColoradoHeritage.com
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