Amache, originally known as the Grenada Relocation Center, is a ghost town and is located in Southeastern Colorado near the town of Grenada. It was created during World War II, to incarcerate Japanese Americans who were forcibly removed from their communities on the West Coast through Executive Order 9066. To a large degree, words escape me, but fundamentally, this location and others like it were created to incarcerate Japanese men, women and children in what amounts to prisoner of war camps during World War II. Many of those relocated here were US Citizens. A monument to “Land of the free and home of the brave”, it was a result of war time fear and sentiments. Amache is now part of the National Parks Service and designated at a National Historic Site.
Most of the structures are now gone. Some of the buildings have been restored or reconstructed and the camp has a very somber feel to it. In this photograph, we have one of the barracks, a water tower and a guard tower. The guard towers were manned by military police, with machine guns. There doesn’t appear to be any current construction in progress, so I don’t know what the future plans are for restoring more on the infrastructure here. I have heard that there has been some talk about designating this location as a National Park.
According to the National Parks website, the name Amache is derived from Amache Ochinee Prowers aka “Walking Woman”, who was the daughter of O’kenehe (Ochinee/One-Eye), a prominent Cheyenne Chief who was murdered during the Sand Creek Massacre (see my previous post regarding the towns of Chivington, and Boggsville.) In 1861 Amache married John Wesley Prowers, who had come west to work with William Bent at Bent’s New Fort.
Incarcerated individuals embraced the camp’s unofficial name, often referring to themselves as Amacheans. The connection between the incarceration site and the Cheyenne goes beyond a name; the land on which the camp was situated is part of ceded treaty lands of the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, and Comanche.
This is another historic location in Colorado that I have had on my photography list for years. I finally visited this spot and many others recently on a 600 mile road trip to explore the history of Colorado. It’s a place I think all Coloradoans or American history buffs, would find worthy of visiting.
