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Assembly Centers
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Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites by J. Burton, M. Farrell, F. Lord, and R. Lord |
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Chapter 16 (continued)
Assembly Centers
Marysville Assembly Center, California
The Marysville Assembly Center was located at a migrant workers' camp about 8 miles south of Marysville. It was also known as the Arboga Assembly Center after the nearby small community of the same name. Occupied from May 8 to June 29, the assembly center housed a total of 2,465 evacuees (2,451 maximum at a time) from Placer and Sacramento counties. In July, soldiers occupied the center (Marysville Appeal-Democrat 7/16/1942).
Construction was begun March 27 and the center was considered ready for occupancy by April 16. However, the arrival of the evacuees was delayed: late rains had left pools of water and rough roads necessitating further grading and filling. The assembly center had 160 buildings, including 100 barracks, five dining halls, and two infirmary buildings (Figure 16.3). There were 15 fire hydrants and the military police had their own barracks and headquarters just outside the entrance (Marysville Appeal-Democrat 5/4/1942).
 Figure 16.3. Oblique aerial view of the Marysville Assembly Center. (from DeWitt 1943) |
 Figure 16.5. Site of the Marysville Assembly Center today. |
 Figure 16.4. Map of the Marysville Assembly Center today. (click image for larger size (~44K) ) |
Most of the assembly center site is encompassed in the northern parcel along Broadway. On that property there is a single house and associated sheds, none of which appear to be from the World War II era. There is also a silted-over 25- by 30-foot slab of uncertain age and some scattered pipe and concrete in the field area, and exposed pipes and concrete rubble along the bank of Clark Slough on the western edge of the site (Figure 16.6). Frank Makamura of Marysville, who had been interned at the assembly center, indicated that the Japanese American Citizen's League had an interest in placing a plaque on the property but had been unable to get agreement from the owner. The property owner has since passed away, and at the time of this report, the property was for sale.
The 1942 aerial photograph indicates that barracks and other buildings were also located on the second parcel, located to the south. According to that property owner, old water pipes were dug up when he recently built his house (Nathan Mayo, Personal Communication, 1996). Also on the southern property there are small trash scatters likely related to the assembly center. These include a small area adjacent to the slough with about 250 small fragments of white and buff hotel ware ceramics, some of which have the U.S.Q.M.C. base mark indicating army-issue (Figures 16.7 and 16.8). In the dry slough bank just west of the ceramics were noted 30 sanitary seal cans, a rubber boot sole, over 20 amber and clear glass fragments, and a few white glass fragments. Additional trash may be buried and the area may have been the assembly center dump.
 Figure 16.7. Hotel ware ceramics at the site of the Marysville Assembly Center. |
 Figure 16.8. Hotel ware ceramics at the site of the Marysville Assembly Center. |
 Figure 16.6. Concrete rubble at the site of the Marysville Assembly Center. |
The World War II-era deposit is significant in that it is the only known assembly center dump. In fact, it may be the only assembly center dump still extant: the urban setting of most of the assembly centers suggests trash deposits must have been destroyed by later development or the trash may have been originally hauled off to local city dumps. Excavation and analyses may provide interesting comparisons with later relocation center dumps.
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Last Modified: Fri, Sep 1 2000 07:08:48 pm PDT
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