(This is part of our ongoing series, Lost Kinjo– a look at the more than 40 Japanese communities that disappeared after World War II. It is supported by funding from the California Public Library Civil Liberties Project and the Takahashi Family Foundation This story has been updated at 2:49 p.m. E.T.)
By Randall Yip, Executive Editor
AsAmNews learned today that an historic Japanese American farmhouse that faced the wrecking ball because of a redevelopment project is getting a one-year reprieve.
As AsAmNews reported in August, the San Jose City Council in California’s Silicon Valley approved a 1,000 unit multi-family residence redevelopment project on the 23-acre property but also called for the farmhouse to be saved and relocated elsewhere.
Preservationists were given a November 15 deadline to raise the necessary funds to move the Sakauye Farmhouse.
The home is significant because unlike most families, the Sakauye family returned to the farmhouse after the war as their home was cared for by a White neighbor, Edward Seely, during the war.
Bill Schroh Jr, president and CEO of History San Jose told AsAmNews Tuesday morning that it had received $500,000 in pledges toward the $750,000 it needed to raise.
This was a significant increase over the $300,000 in pledges announced just a week earlier.
“It’s really about Eiichi Sakauye, Schroh told AsAmNews. “His contributions to Santa Clara County and to Japanese American history is very, very important. He was able to buy land before laws that banned it.”
Schroh said Sakauye both kept the farmhouse running until his death in 2005 and joined with various community groups to ensure that something like the incarceration would never happen again.
The reprieve from the Hanover Company means construction crews will work around the farmhouse while they build their housing project until November 15th of 2025.
The hope is to move the farmhouse eventually to San Jose History Park where the story of the Sakauye family will be told.
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
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