A Small Colorado Town’s Troubling Past: WWII Internment Camp

Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor which catapulted The United States into World War II, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which took roughly 120,000 Japanese-Americans out of their homes and placed them in what were known as internment camps.

That being said, it may come as a surprise to you that not only did Colorado have one of these internment camps, but it was the only one of its kind in the nation that wasn't opposed by the state's governor at the time.

Keep scrolling to learn about the Amache Japanese-American Relocation Center, a WWII internment camp just outside of Granada, Colorado.

Granada Colorado's Japanese Internment Camp

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After the signing of Executive Order 9066, Japanese Americans across the nation were taken to internment camps all over the west coast with only a single bag of their belongings.

Just outside of the tiny town of Granada, Colorado was a 10,000-acre, privately owned piece of land that was transformed into one of these camps that became home to many of these internees.

The camp consisted of countless buildings, barbed-wire fencing, and eight machinegun towers.

However, the machinegun towers were reportedly rarely staffed and never actually used, and the internees were allowed to visit the neighboring town of Granada, despite not being welcomed by the locals at first.

The camp existed for a total of three years, and the Granada townspeople eventually warmed up to their Japanese American neighbors, even going as far as hiring them to work in the town and carrying Japanese food.

Amache also had its own school, Boy Scout unit, and produced more than enough food for everyone that was forced to live there.

Eventually, some of the internees were allowed to join the U.S. Military and were such strong, dedicated soldiers that they were given the name The Purple Heart Brigade.

Today, little is left of the camp with the exception of a few buildings, machinegun towers, and a memorial, all of which you can see below: