I live in a part of town known as Florin. Before the war it was largely populated by Japanese immigrants who grew strawberries. Sadly most never came back from internment. A few had their land looked after but not nearly enough.
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During the early 20th century Florin's economy focused on agricultural production. Strawberries were the most common produce grown. Japanese immigrants were the dominant group in Florin and they were the predominant farmers in Florin, making the area noted for being a Japanese immigrant community. This immigrant group's rendering of land in Florin had some popular renown. "In his report to Governor William Stephens, Colonel
John P. Irish, president of the California Delta Association, described Japanese triumph: 'They [the Californians] had seen the Japanese convert the barren land like that at Florin and Livingston into productive and profitable fields, orchards and vineyards, and intelligence of their industry.'"
[8]
The presence of Japanese immigrants in Florin was not always met with such good will as expressed by Colonel Irish. "As soon as a Jap can produce a lease,"
the Sacramento Bee warned, "he is entitled to a wife. He sends a copy of his lease back home and gets a picture bride and they increase like rats. Florin [a valley farming town] is producing 85 American-born Japs a year."
[9] This article was in critical response to the
Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907 between the US and Japan.
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Local and Federal treatment of Nisei (Japanese immigrants and US-born Japanese Americans) in Florin took a drastic downturn upon the
bombing of Pearl Harbor and the subsequent war between the US and Japan. At the time, about 2,500 Florin residents were Nikkei, forming a majority of the town's population.
[10] With a little fear and a lot of racial hostility, the Federal Government sent Japanese and Japanese Americans to internment camps according to
FDR's Executive Order 9066. Florin Japanese American resident and educator Mary Tsukamoto recalled "everyone was given short notice for removal. Signs had been nailed to the telephone poles saying that we had to report to various spots."
[11] Florin's Japanese and Japanese American residents were forced to "register as families. We had to report to the Elk Grove Masonic Building where we were given our family numbers, No. 2076."
[11] The Elk Grove Masonic Building referred to by Tsukamoto was located in neighboring Elk Grove near a railroad station where the Florin residents were shipped in rail cars to distribution hubs. At these distribution hubs Florin's residents of Japanese descent were then sent to internment camps far from the coast.
The internment forever changed the character of Florin. Japanese and Japanese American residents had to sell their property within only a few days and often at prices far below their fair market value. When the Japanese and Japanese Americans were released from the internment camps some were able to return to Florin and start over. Most had to move on to other areas. Florin ceased to be a Japanese American community as it was before the internment.
Very sad time in our history.
