Historic Wintersburg in Huntington Beach, California
The property, consisting of six structures on a 4.5-acre (1.8 ha) parcel, was noted as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places in the City of Huntington Beach General Plan in 2014.
[10] In 1912, it was deeded by Reverend Terasawa to Charles Mitsuji Furuta in its entirety,[11] with an understanding the small, northwest portion of the land would house the Japanese Presbyterian Mission.
The Church was issued a formal apology by the Presbytery of Los Ranchos in 2014 for non action more than seven decades earlier during World War II.
The Presbytery of Los Ranchos determined the Church could retain their property and assets, and would not have to meet a reimbursement requirement for leaving the denomination.
The official apology acknowledged, "though we cannot remove the pain that has been experienced as a result of the neglect of our forebears, we wish to extend our deepest apologies to the generations of Wintersburg Presbyterian Church who were and continue to be affected by the abandonment of your brothers and sisters...for the absence of advocacy, the neglect of care and failure of leadership of the church parents we commonly claim, the people of your presbytery humbly request your congregation’s forgiveness.
The sole extant Japanese Language School building is preserved within the federally listed historic district of Crystal Cove State Park.
The Crystal Cove State Park historical timeline notes, "The purpose was for a coastal defense crew to observe and to furnish data for the guns of a battery for firing at a target."
After the war, Japanese American farmers who had leased farmland on the Irvine Ranch were unable to reclaim their farms and homes in the San Joaquin Hills.
The Laguna Beach Japanese Language School building today is Cottage #34 and serves as the Crystal Cove State Park's cultural center.
[18] The first official clergy at the opening of the Mission building in 1910 was Reverend Joseph Kenichi Inzawa, with his wife, Kate Alice Goodman.
Intending to meet his older brother, Soichi, in Hawaii, Furuta was prevented from disembarking due to an outbreak of the Black Plague.
[23] By 1912, Reverend Terasawa deeded the five-acre property in full to Furuta, who set aside the northwest corner for the Japanese mission building committee.
The finishing touches were made on the house by March 1913-documented in a photograph of Yukiko Furuta standing on the front porch-only months before passage of California's Alien Land Law of 1913 in May of that year.
Two other goldfish farms were established in Wintersburg Village during the same time period, one by Furuta's brother-in-law Henry Kiyomi Akiyama and one by Tsurumatsu "T.M."
The Furutas, Akiyamas, and Asaris continued to farm goldfish until forcibly removed from California after the authorization of Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, following the December 7, 1941, attack by Japan at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Furuta first was incarcerated at the Tuna Canyon Detention Station, a former Civilian Conservation Corps camp in Los Angeles County, California.
[26] On February 19, 1942, Executive Order 9066 established a military exclusion zone and mandated the forced removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast.
During World War II years, the Pilgrim House for the African American migrant community set up space in the Japanese Union Church building and Little Tokyo became known as Bronzeville.
The National Park Service notes Reverend Kowta's efforts to help Japanese Americans returning from confinement in Five Views: An Ethnic Historic Site Survey for California: "Rev.
He later was moved to a Department of Justice enemy alien camp in Lordsburg, New Mexico, which began receiving detainees from California in June, 1942.
The structures range in age from 70 to 105 years, marking the history of Japanese settlement of the American West as well as the return to California after World War II forced evacuation and confinement in detention and relocation centers.
The National Trust stated that Historic Wintersburg is "among the only surviving Japanese-American properties acquired before California passed anti-immigrant land laws in 1913 and 1920.
In Orange County, work in the early 1900s was available in the celery, sugar beet, and chili pepper fields surrounding Wintersburg Village and nearby Smeltzer (both now part of Huntington Beach).
[44] His biography notes Dr. Sturge and his wife "cheerfully taught classes of Japanese students who were anxious to learn the English language."
[59] On June 2, 2015, Orange County Superior Court Judge Gail Andler ordered the City of Huntington Beach to rescind within 45 days the 2013 California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) action---the Environmental Impact Report (EIR)---that rezoned the Historic Wintersburg property to commercial / industrial and included the approval for demolition.
This action led to the removal and incarceration of all Japanese Americans from Orange County, California, including everyone associated with Historic Wintersburg.
[69] August 19 - September 30, 2017, Historic Wintersburg was part of a joint exhibition with the Smithsonian Institution at the Heritage Museum of Orange County, Hometown Teams: How Sports Shape America.
[71] On September 11, 2017, Republic Services informed the preservation group that they declined a preliminary site walk by CSULB archaeologists and would resume discussions after finishing some construction deadlines at their waste transfer station.
[74][75][76][77] 2021 The grassroots preservation effort to save endangered Historic Wintersburg is partnered with and under the 501c3 umbrella of the nonprofit Heritage Museum of Orange County.
Former California state assemblyman Warren Furutani writes about the prejudice and harassment targeting Historic Wintersburg in The Rafu Shimpo Los Angeles Japanese Daily News.
