Rohwer Relocation Center Memorial Cemetery, Arkansas Highway #1, Rohwer, Desha County, AR

Entry and Third Place Recipient (tie) 2011 HALS Challenge: Celebrating Cultural Landscapes of Diversity
Significance: The Rohwer Relocation Center Memorial Cemetery in Rohwer, Arkansas is the most intact remnant of the former Rohwer Japanese-American internment camp, and as such it is the most powerful visible reminder of this difficult period of history. The Rohwer cemetery is also one of only three remaining cemeteries in the ten camps that were created during World War II to hold United States citizens and immigrants of Japanese descent (the other two are in Manzanar, California, and Granada, Colorado). Of these three, the cemetery at Rohwer is the largest and most artistically detailed, featuring monuments that were designed and built by internees to memorialize fellow internees who died both at the Center and while serving in the US Army during the war. It also serves as a resilient display of both Japanese cultural heritage and American patriotism, despite confinement by the country to which they pledged their allegiance.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N44
Survey number: HALS AR-4
Building/structure dates: ca. 1942- ca. 1945 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: ca. 1961 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: ca. 1967 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: ca. 1967- ca. 1980 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: ca. 1982 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: ca. 1990- ca. 1995 Subsequent Work
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 92001882