Camp Harmony
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Camp Harmony was the unofficial name of the Puyallup Assembly Center, a temporary facility within the system of internment camps set up for Japanese Americans during World War II. More than 7000 Americans of Japanese descent in Washington state were sent to the camp before being sent to the Minidoka relocation center near Twin Falls, Idaho.
Camp Harmony was established in the spring season of 1942 shortly after the bombing attack on Pearl Harbor. The location for the assembly center was on and around the Western Washington Fairgrounds in Puyallup, Washington. It consisted of four distinct areas:
- A, with a population of about 2000, located northeast of the fairgrounds.
- B, with a population of about 1200, just east of the fairgrounds in the vicinity of the current Blue parking lot.
- C, with a population of about 800, located northwest of the fairgrounds.
- D, with a population of about 3000, located on the fairgrounds in the area including the racetrack and grandstand, east of the roller coaster.
The first residents of the camp were moved out in early August, 1942, about four months after the camp was established. The camp was empty within a month of the first departures.
Camp Harmony has now been converted to the Puyallup Fairgrounds.
[edit] External links
- University of Washington Libraries Camp Harmony Exhibit
- Wing Luke Asian Museum
- University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Social Issues Photographs 500 historical images from Western United States and the Pacific Northwest region covering political and social topics such as women's issues, labor and government, and ethnic groups with special emphasis on the Japanese internment camps (including the Minidoka Relocation Center and the Puyallup Assembly center known as Camp Harmony) in the Northwest during World War II.
