By Executive Order 9066, over 10,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry were imprisoned at the Granada Relocation Center in Granada, Colorado. They were kept under armed guard from 1942-1945. Located 1.7 miles west of Granada, the camp was nicknamed "Camp Amache" after the Cheyanne wife of John Prowers, the man for whom the county was named.
Today, the camp is maintained by the Amache Preservation Society and its associates. The society was established in 1993 by John Hopper, the history teacher for Granada School, and primarily consists of volunteer students. The students maintain the cemetery, this website, the museum, and also publish a print newsletter that is delivered every month to subscribers.
The students have traveled throughout the country, several have even traveled to Japan, and frequently give presentations on the camp itself. Of Amache, Mr. Hopper said, "Other history teachers would be frothing at the mouth to have something like this."
On May 18, 1994, Amache was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and was designated a National Historic Landmark on February 10, 2006.
