The , in what was then

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

's Japantown, was one of 24 Japanese language schools that existed in Washington prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

History

The building was built in 1922 to replace a smaller building and accommodate a larger enrollment. It was designed by Frederick Heath of Heath, Gove and Bell. Because Washington had laws preventing

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from owning land, the lot was paid for by a school corporation that was made up of three Americans, and two Issei Japanese Americans. Two lots were bought for a total cost of $1,600, and the building was built at a cost of $9,000. An addition to the building was added in 1926. The school taught classes on the English language, the Japanese language, and Japanese culture. During World War II the building was used to gather Japanese residents during World War II, before sending them to internment camps. The

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

bought the building in 1993 after it established a campus in Tacoma. By this point, the decades of vacancy had left the building quite dilapidated. The same year, the university had made a request to the Tacoma Landmarks Preservation Commission for permission to demolish the building and replace it with a commemorative garden, but failed to act on their approval. In 2001, the City of Tacoma told the university that the building was a safety hazard and the following year the Preservation Commission renewed their approval of the plan for demolition. The university received an estimate of $3 million to rehabilitate the building, and decided that the cost was not feasible. Despite being listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, as well as being a City of Tacoma Landmark, the building was demolished in 2004 after having stood vacant since the 1940s. Prior to its demolishing, the school was one of only two Japanese language schools left, of around four dozen that existed in the

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and

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References

Sources

* Asato, Noriko (2006). ''Teaching Mikadoism: The Attack on Japanese Language Schools in Hawaii, California, and Washington, 1919-1927'', Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, . * Magden, Ronald E. (1998). ''Furusato: Tacoma-Pierce County Japanese 1888-1988'', Nikkeijinkai: Tacoma Japanese Community Service. * Sandercock, Leonie (1998). ''Making the Invisible Visible: A Multicultural Planning History'', University of California Press, . {{Registered Historic Places Demolished buildings and structures in Washington (state) Nihon Go Gakko Japanese-American culture in Washington (state) National Register of Historic Places in Tacoma, Washington Schools in Tacoma, Washington Supplementary Japanese schools in the United States Japanese-American history School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) Frederick Heath buildings Buildings and structures demolished in 2004 Educational institutions established in 1922 University of Washington Tacoma 1922 establishments in Washington (state)

History

See also

References

Sources