Originally published in the Pacific Citizen newspaper
Nov. 16, 2007
A farm once owned by Japanese Americans will now be one of the first to be placed on the Washington state Heritage Barn Register, preserving the memory of a once-beautiful barn and recalling an uglier era when the law prohibited many Asian Pacific Americans from owning land.
The Nakashima farm, which at one point spanned over 1,000 acres and was the first to have registered Guernsey cattle, served as home to Kamezo and Miye Nakashima and their family for decades before it was forcibly taken from them after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
While they had lived and worked on the farm for decades, the Nakashimas only owned the farm for five years when its previous owners transferred the deed to 24-year old Takeo Nakashima, their son and an American citizen. Discriminatory land laws of the time prevented non-citizens from owning land.
The family then had to sell the farm in 1941 for only $10 an acre, far below market value, before complying with the World War II evacuation order, according to Tracy Tallman, vice chairwoman of the Snohomish County Historic Preservation Commission.
“The Nakashimas would still be living here if they weren’t forced out. I think people need higher awareness of that,” said Tallman, who also noted that there weren’t many farmers in the county, let alone JA farmers.
Now the only farm in Washington’s Snohomish County to have ever been owned by APAs will be commemorated for its historic legacy and hopefully, restored to its former prime.
“It was a beautiful barn at one time. But now there’s canary grass that’s overrun the place, and the farm’s been neglected,” said Loren Kraetz, a farmer in Arlington about eight miles south of the former Nakashima property, and a member of the County Historic Commission. Like Tallman, he also believes it’s important for people to be aware of the turbulent history behind the barn.
JACL PNW Director Karen Yoshitomi agrees, “Time may ease the sting of discrimination, but it should not erase the lessons that can be learned from the past.” While some of the Nakashima descendants are reportedly indifferent to the project, locals like Kraetz want to see the barn rebuilt.
The barn, built around 1910, needs cosmetic restoration, according to Kraetz. Snohomish County purchased over 80 acres of the land over a decade ago and is currently in talks to make it over as a park trailhead. Old railroad tracks that go through the Nakashima farm could serve as part of the trail, and the barn itself would need cleaning and revamping.
Kraetz would like to see the land renamed Nakashima Park, in honor of the family.
