PORTLAND
| Official name: | Portland Assembly Center | Location: | Portland, Oregon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coordinates: | 45.61° N, 122.69° W | Opening date: | May 2, 1942 |
| Peak population: | 3,676 | Date of peak: | June 6, 1942 |
| Closing date: | September 10, 1942 |
Confinement under a livestock pavilion roof
The Portland Assembly Center occupied the Pacific International Livestock Exposition buildings in North Portland. Japanese Americans from Oregon and Washington were confined in a connected complex that had housed livestock. Heat, flies, odors, and crowding shaped daily life inside.
People organized schooling, recreation, and an advisory council during the camp’s four months of operation in 1942. Transfers divided communities again: many Washington residents went to Heart Mountain, while many Oregonians went to Minidoka. Some protested being separated from people with whom they had grown close in Portland.
Sources: Densho Encyclopedia · Portland
Across the assembly centers
Following their forced removal from the West Coast (described by the government as “evacuation”), Japanese Americans were initially confined in temporary detention centers called “assembly centers” before their eventual assignment to one of ten incarceration camps in the interior, officially designated “war relocation centers” and operated by the new civilian agency, the War Relocation Authority (WRA). The fifteen hastily constructed temporary detention centers known as “assembly centers” held the 92,000 individuals of Japanese ancestry forcibly removed under Executive Order 9066.
The table and the collection below cover all fifteen assembly centers. Each object’s caption identifies the people, places, and events it documents. Its place on this page does not assign it to this center.
| “Assembly Center” | Maximum Population | Dates Occupied |
|---|---|---|
| Fresno, CA | 5,120 (Sept. 4) | May 6 – Oct. 30 |
| Marysville, CA | 2,451 (June 2) | May 8 – June 29 |
| Mayer, AZ | 245 (May 25) | May 7 – June 2 |
| Merced, CA | 4,508 (June 3) | May 6 – Sept. 15 |
| Pinedale, CA | 4,792 (June 29) | May 7 – July 23 |
| Pomona, CA | 5,434 (July 20) | May 7 – Aug. 24 |
| Portland, OR | 3,676 (June 6) | May 2 – Sept. 10 |
| Sacramento, CA | 4,739 (May 30) | May 6 – June 26 |
| Puyallup, WA | 7,390 (July 25) | April 28 – Sept. 12 |
| Salinas, CA | 3,586 (June 23) | April 27 – July 4 |
| Santa Anita, CA | 18,719 (Aug. 23) | March 27 – Oct. 27 |
| Stockton, CA | 4,271 (May 21) | May 10 – Oct. 17 |
| Tanforan, CA | 7,816 (July 25) | April 28 – Oct. 13 |
| Tulare, CA | 4,978 (Aug. 11) | April 20 – Sept. 4 |
| Turlock, CA | 3,661 (June 2) | April 30 – Aug. 12 |
