Historical Marker · No. 934
Fresno Assembly Center
Fresno, Fresno County · California
Erected by State Department of Parks and Recreation; Fresno District Fair; Japanese American Citizens League; Central California Nikkei Foundation, 1992
The Fresno camp was the last of the assembly centers to close. It opened on May 6, 1942, and held people for 177 days, up to 5,120 at once, most from Fresno and the valley around it, before the last left on October 30 for Jerome in Arkansas and Gila River in Arizona. The bronze was set on February 19, 1992, fifty years to the day after the executive order. It now stands at the center of a memorial plaza at the fairgrounds, among banners and panels on the camp's history.
What the plaque says
Fresno Assembly Center This memorial is dedicated to over 5,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry who were confined at the Fresno Fairgrounds from May to October 1942. This was an early phase of the mass incarceration of over 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II pursuant to Executive Order 9066. They were detained without charges, trial or establishment of guilt. May such injustice and suffering never recur. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 934 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Fresno District Fair, Japanese American Citizens League and the Central California Nikkei Foundation. February 19, 1992.
Where it stands
36.73152, -119.75073 · Directions