HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021 Issue 2 - Strong Roots, Renton's Japanese Growers.pdfWhat Difference
Do Renton Women
Make?, on exhibit.
Board Report by
Colleen Lenahan,
Vice President.
Collections Report
by Sarah Samson,
Curator.
Museum Report
by Elizabeth P.
Stewart, Director.
In 2019, volunteers with the Renton History Museum’s oral
history program began an information collection project
focused on the Japanese and Japanese-American communities
of Renton and surrounding areas. One result was this essay,
a version of which originally appeared online as HistoryLink.
org Essay No. 21002. In quotes on pages 6 and 10, this article
contains derogatory language from the 1940s directed at
Japanese people. We think long and hard about it before we
print such language. Why do we quote these sources directly?
Because we believe it is important not to sugarcoat the racism
of the past. But if you disagree, we want to hear from you.Japanese immigrants and their children in the first half of
the 20th century were deeply involved with agricultural
pursuits throughout Puget Sound. From the Sand Point area
of Seattle to Bellevue to the Green River, White River, and
Also In This Issue...
RENTON HISTORICALSOCIETY & MUSEUM
Spring
March 2021
Volume 52
Number 2
Continued on page 5
2 4 103
STRONG ROOTS:
Renton's Japanese Flower Growers
QUARTERLY
By: Eleanor Boba
WHAT
DIFFERENCE
DO RENTON
WOMEN MAKE?
2 | RENTON HISTORY MUSEUM
From
OCTOBER
27
to
MAY
28
MUSEUM RECEIVES
KING COUNTY GRANT
In February, King
County Councilmember
Reagan Dunn stopped
by to deliver a one-time
King County Council
grant of $2000. The
grant helped fund a
2020 project conducted
by UW Museology
M.A. candidate Brandi
Mason to document the
experiences of diverse
Renton-area restaurateurs
for an upcoming traveling
exhibit titled A Plate at
the Potluck. The exhibit
explores how these local
chefs share their home
MUSEUM PREPARES TO
REOPEN
After almost one
year closed due to
COVID-19 restrictions,
the Renton History
Museum is planning to
reopen in early March.
We will begin with
a short week—open
Wednesdays, Thursdays,
and Fridays, 10:00am
to 4:00pm—and see
how we can rebuild our
staffing. The building
will be limited to 25%
or about 10–15 people
at a time, so please
call ahead. Masks and
social distancing will be
country’s food traditions
with Renton residents.
During the project
Brandi collected four oral
histories for the museum's
collection. We appreciate
the ongoing support of the
King County Council and
Councilmember Dunn!
required, and we’ll be
cleaning regularly. Come
visit the What Difference
Do Renton Women Make?
exhibit during Women’s
History Month!
A lot, it turns out! We’re celebrating the centennial of national women’s
suffrage by exploring the extraordinary lives of Renton achievers. Many
Washington women gained the vote in 1910, just a few years after Renton
became a city and a decade before women in the rest of the country. But women
did not wait for the vote to make changes. Learn about these extraordinary Renton
women’s accomplishments in building and supporting hospitals, libraries, schools, and
churches; pressing for civil and human rights; fighting poverty; and generally making
Renton the city it is today. Check out the online portion of this exhibit on our website:
rentonhistory.org!
WHAT
DIFFERENCE
DO RENTON
WOMEN MAKE?
Museum
Reopening
Call for
Reservations
SPRING QUARTERLY, 2021 | 3
MUSEUM REPORT
QUARTERLY
Spring 2021
Elizabeth P. Stewart
Director
As I write this, the Museum has been closed almost
a year, with two months open in the fall. If we’ve
learned anything from the COVID-19 lockdown of the
past year, it’s that we all bear some responsibility for our fellow
humans. When we mask up, wash our hands, or stay six feet
apart from others, we are protecting them; by protecting others,
we create conditions that protect ourselves. By shopping with
local small businesses, we help them stay afloat and ensure
our local economy is strong. Our legislators at the state and
federal level have passed extraordinary bills to help renters,
homeowners, gig workers, and businesses large and small.
We have never been more aware that a country is not a group
of rugged individuals—it is an ecosystem in which everyone
really does depend on everyone else.
The Renton History Museum is not only a nonprofit
and a cultural organization, it is also an employer, with two
full-time staffers and one part-time employee, all of whom
depend on us for their livelihood. These staffers are highly
skilled museum professionals who care for our historic objects
and photos, conduct research into Renton topics, create exhibits
and programs, and—in ordinary times—provide a welcoming
educational environment for visitors and volunteers.
Without these vital staff members, the museum is a
beautiful but empty historic fire station. And without the steady
paycheck from the museum, these highly skilled staff members
are on unemployment or off to another job. Maybe they stay in
Renton, maybe they don’t; either way, without a livable wage,
their little chunk of the economy fails.
When we asked members and donors to help us
replace some of our usual sources of income by making
donations in 2020, you were generous. Some wondered why
we didn’t just cut salaries. When our Public Engagement
Coordinator left in April 2020 to take another position, we
did leave her job empty. But to cut salaries of these staff
members who have given so much to the museum and to the
community would have been the wrong thing to do, for us,
for them, and for Renton. We’re proud that the budget cuts
we made did not harm our staff and we’re thrilled that they
continue to serve our city.
All this is to say that history shows us that in
extraordinary circumstances—the Spanish influenza epidemic,
the Great Depression, and now the COVID-19 pandemic—in
the wealthiest country in the world, we are better off taking
care of one another. Economic and psychic recovery takes less
time, and we can all remain contributing members of a society
in which all can prosper.
by Elizabeth P. Stewart,
Museum Director
RENTON HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Sarah Samson
Graphic Design & Layout
Karl Hurst
City of Renton Print &
Mail Services
RENTON HISTORICAL
SOCIETY BOARD
OF TRUSTEES
Colleen Lenahansen, President
Laura Clawson, Vice President
Staci VanderPol, Secretary
Jessica Kelly, Treasurer
Lynne King, 2022
Rhea Kimble, 2022
Mike Lennox, 2022
Amy Elizabeth Gorton, 2023
Maryann DiPasquale, 2024
Daryl Delaurenti, 2024
Elizabeth Stewart, Board Liaison
MUSEUM STAFF
Elizabeth P. Stewart
Museum Director
Sarah Samson
Curator of Collections &
Exhibitions
Stephanie Snyder
Volunteer & Member Liason
RENTON HISTORY MUSEUM
235 MILL AVENUE S
RENTON, WA 98057
P (425) 255-2330
F (425) 255-1570
HOURS:
Wednesday - Friday
10:00am - 4:00pm
ADMISSION:
$5 (Adult)
$2 (Child)
Anonymous letter recieved in
response to our 2020 donation
drive.
4 | RENTON HISTORY MUSEUM
SUPPORT
PROVIDED BY:
PRESIDENT’S
MESSAGE
What a crazy year we have all been through! Who
would have thought when we closed the Renton
History Museum on March 9, 2020 that the doors
would be shut for most of the next year? Now as we take first
steps toward reopening, the Board of Trustees is working with
staff to plan for a safe and enjoyable future, still full of history!
In February, the Board met remotely on a Saturday
to discuss what the future of the Museum will look like. This
retreat gave us time to consider our Strategic Plan, approved
exactly two years ago in 2019, and to evaluate which goals are
still important and which ones might have changed because
of COVID-19. The pandemic and the need to stay physically
distant from one another has made many of our usual
activities—face-to-face programs and events, for example—
inappropriate for now, and probably for some time in the
future. Our usual sources of revenue (admissions, programs,
and our annual fundraiser) will also have to change for the
Museum to be sustainable going forward. And the need for
better and more versatile online tools going forward will be a
challenge for us.
As a Board, we’ll be exploring priorities in the
following broad areas: strengthening and diversifying our
sources of revenue to ensure the Museum has the resources it
needs to provide excellent programs and exhibits; increasing our
connections to the community, even remotely; centering inclusion
and equity in all the work we do; and improving the Board’s
structure and ability to work efficiently (even on Zoom).
We’re lucky that we have added two new trustees
since the beginning of the year: Maryann DiPasquale
and Daryl Delaurenti. Maryann is a recently retired HR
professional, who lives in the East Renton Highlands. Daryl
is a retired Boeing project manager with a passion for history.
Both are already bringing their tremendous ideas, talents,
and skills to the Board’s work. When full, the Board has
15 members, so we still have a few more slots for people
interested in contributing to the success of the Renton History
Museum. We continue to meet safely via Zoom, and we’ve
got a lot of important and exciting work ahead of us in 2021.
Board members are full of good ideas for new ways
to cope with changed circumstances, and we’ll continue to
work on these in the coming months, as the world slowly
comes out of our forced hibernation. One thing that has not
changed—and won’t change—is our commitment to ensuring
that Renton’s only heritage organization will continue to
preserve, document, and educate about our city’s diverse
history for generations to come.
by Colleen Lenahan, President
Colleen Lenahan
President
Board of Trustees at our annual
History-Making Party fundraiser,
2019. This was the last time our
board was together in person.
SPRING QUARTERLY, 2021 | 5
Cedar River watersheds, Japanese families took up vegetable
and dairy farming.
In the more urbanized Renton area, a number of
Japanese turned to growing flowers and ornamental plants in
greenhouses, as well as vegetables. In the 1920s and 1930s,
the Iwasakis, with 11 children, operated the Bryn Mawr
Greenhouse on 17 acres; the Maekawa family (sometimes
spelled “Mayakawa”) had a nursery nearby. George (1906-
1993) and Irene Ichino (1914-2010) Kawachi founded
Floralcrest Greenhouse in Skyway, specializing in new
varieties of poinsettias.1 The Manos called their business the
Earlington Greenhouses, after the hill west of Renton where
it was located. As a young man, Robert Mizukami learned
the trade from the Hirai family at their Maplewood Gardens
along the Cedar River east of Renton; he went on to establish
a greenhouse of his own in Fife and to serve as mayor of
that town.2 The Nakashima family ran the popular Renton
Greenhouse and Florist shop in downtown Renton. And just
over the Seattle city line, in the Rainier Beach area, Fujitaro
Kubota began laying the groundwork for his famous garden,
nursery, and landscaping business.
Subtle and not-so-subtle racism existed throughout
this period; by and large, however, Japanese families in
Continued from page 1 Cover photo:
Mano family in Earlington
Greenhouse, ca. 1938. L-R:
George, Kiyoko, Riki, and Tosh.
(RHM# 2019.046.009)
Mano's Earlington Greenhouse, ca. 1930. L-R: Tosh, Kiyoko,
Riki, George, and Kikujiro Mano. (RHM# 2019.046.002)
STRONG ROOTS
6 | RENTON HISTORY MUSEUM
Renton lived in relative harmony with their white neighbors.
Children attended the same schools and played together. The
older generation had more difficulty fitting in, largely due to
language barriers.
The younger generation (Nisei) was expected to help
out with the family business, working in the nurseries and
helping truck produce up to Seattle for sale at the Pike Place
Market or to brokers. Unlike the larger vegetable farms in the
outlying areas, which shipped some of their produce out of the
area by train, the nurseries sold locally.
The Japanese families maintained close ties with
one another, socializing at cultural associations and religious
events. The Japanese Greenhousemen’s Association, founded
in the late 1920s, provided networking, as well as social
occasions, such as picnics.
WAR CLOUDS
The coming of war with Japan shattered the social dynamic in
Renton and elsewhere. Families in the relatively unobtrusive
business of raising vegetables and flowers for the public
suddenly found themselves in the crosshairs of suspicion.
Racism triumphed, as many called for the immediate ouster
of all ethnic Japanese from West Coast communities. An
editorial in the Renton Chronicle railed against the possibility
of delaying evacuation to accommodate Japanese growers in
hateful and sarcastic terms:
“A news story in a Seattle paper yesterday morning
outlined the new ‘plan’ – to keep the Japs raising
cabbage as usual within a stone’s throw of many defense
plants…. Now that’s very nice and thoughtful of the
produce exchange, the seed merchants and those boys
holding the notes and mortgages of the Japanese. If
and when the signals of the local Japs bring a cloud of
bombers on us from Japan, the Nips will be moved. But
until the bombs begin to fall, profits as usual from the
lettuce and the cauliflower and new, fresh arrogance from
the insolent Japs in our midst!”3
THE “EVACUATION”
On May 5, 1942, the United States War Defense Command
announced the forced removal of Japanese and Japanese-
American families from Exclusion Area No. 39, a large
semi-rural region of King County, Washington, between the
Seattle city line and the Green River and extending east to
the Kittitas County line. The region included the towns of
Renton, Tukwila, and Kent, as well as many smaller farming
communities. Civilian Exclusion Order No. 39 was one of
108 staggered orders issued throughout the spring of 1942 in
response to the attack on Pearl Harbor and President Franklin
D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066.
The exclusion order had been long expected; once it
came down, events unspooled with lightning speed. Japanese
and Japanese Americans (the edicts made no differentiation) in
Area 39 were to register within two days at the Lonely Acres
Skating Rink in a park (long gone to make way for Interstate
405) on the border between Renton and Tukwila, dubbed the
Renton High School boys basketball team, 1940-41. Brothers Ted (left) and Hiroshi Nakanishi (right) are in the back row. Their
father Matsuoru was a truck farmer in Orillia who died in 1934. Their eldest brother Satoru Frank took over farming to provide for
his widowed mother and nine siblings. The family was incarcerated at Tule Lake, CA during WWII. (RHM# 1992.084.3500)
SPRING QUARTERLY, 2021 | 7
Renton Junction Civil Control Station. About 1,000 individuals
in the zone were affected.
This was only step one. Families were then given just
a few days to wind up their affairs and dispose of their property
before reporting to the Renton Depot on March 11 for the
long train ride to the Pinedale Assembly Center, near Fresno.
(Evacuees from Seattle were taken to the Puyallup Assembly
Center.) From there they would be dispersed to various
“relocation centers,” sometimes referred to as “internment
camps,” or, even more euphemistically, “projects.” Here they
would wait out the war.
THE HIRAI FAMILY
On the east side of the Renton area, in the Cedar River Valley, the
Hirai family operated a greenhouse called Maplewood Gardens
located just across the highway from the Maplewood Golf Course.
The seven children of Gisuke (1887-1983) and Tami Hirai (1891-
1945) helped raise vegetables and flowers which they trucked to
Seattle to sell. The nursery also provided landscaping plants for
the golf course. Two other Japanese families raised vegetables in
the same area, the Mizukamis and Serizawas.4
The disruptions occasioned by the attack on Pearl
Harbor, December 7, 1941, hit the Hirai family hard and fast.
Before the next day dawned, father Gisuke Hirai had been
arrested, swept up in the FBI’s initial response to the crisis.5
That agency had kept watchful eyes on a number of suspected
enemy agents for some time. Many of these were targeted
simply for being part of Japanese cultural associations. In a
time of paranoia, it wasn’t long before gossip ran rampant. Bob
Aliment (1931-2019), son of golf course manager and later
Renton Mayor Frank Aliment (1908-1976), played with some
of the Hirai children. Nine years old at the time, he recalls lurid
stories of the Hirai family collecting money from the Japanese
community and smuggling it over to Japan by the suitcase-full.
“I’ll tell you, when the war broke out on December 7th – on the
8th, three fellows came into Maplewood Golf Course and wanted
to see Frank Aliment. That was my father. He was the manager.
They said, ‘we’re from the FBI and we’re here wanting to know
what you know about the Hirai family.’ And my dad said, ‘The
man and wife never spoke English, so I have nothing to do with
them. But the kids, a couple of them worked on the golf course
and they caddied and my son went to school with a couple of
them.’ And they said, ‘Well, we’ll tell YOU something: The old
man [Gisuke Hirai] had a shortwave [radio]. He knew exactly
what was gonna happen [at Pearl Harbor].’”6
As a result of such flagrant rumor-mongering, Gisuke
Hirai, along with several other suspects, was taken to the
immigration center in Seattle on Airport Way and interrogated.
After three weeks, they were shipped off to Fort Missoula,
Montana, where they were held for six months before being
allowed to rejoin their families—at another concentration camp!7
Declassified documents from the Department of
Justice show that the FBI relied on informants to build their
case against Hirai and other “enemy aliens.” A number of
patriotic-minded Americans had called or written to provide
Continued on page 10
George and Irene Kawachi at a Rotary event, 1990.The
Kawachis owned and operated Floralcrest Greenhouse.
(RHM# 1999.071.409)
The Kawachi family back at Floralcrest Greenhouse after
WWII incarceration, 1945. L-R: Gary, Irene, Jean, and George.
(Seattle Times, 15 Jul 1945)
The Mikkel Pink poinsettia,
first propagated by the
Kawachi family.
8 | RENTON HISTORY MUSEUM
F or many museums, official gifts
help recreate the priorities of a
particular time and place; this
is particularly true of some special
donations relating to the Renton Sister
City program. In 2019 Renton celebrated
the 50th anniversary of its Sister City
relationship with Nishiwaki, Japan. A
textile manufacturing town, Nishiwaki
had roughly the same population size
as Renton (~40,000) when a delegation
from the Renton Lions Club first visited
there in July 1969, just days before the first moon landing.
Renton’s Mayor at the time, Don W. Custer, did not travel
to Japan with the nineteen-member delegation, but Renton
delegate Wyman Dobson briefed the Mayor after the trip
and shared gifts from Japan.
The following year Renton had a new Mayor,
long-time City Councilmember Avery Garrett. In May he
became the first Renton Mayor to visit Nishiwaki during a
twelve-day trip. These visits were the first of many between
delegations and exchange students. The visits always
included an exchange of gifts, usually gifts specific to
Renton and Nishiwaki or Japan and the U.S.
At the end of 2020, we received a donation of some
of these gifts. Glenn Garrett, son of Avery Garrett, donated
two lacquer abacuses and three paper fans. All were given to
Mayor Garrett as gifts from Nishiwaki. We’re not sure when
COLLECTIONS
REPORT
by Sarah Samson, Curator of
Collections & Exhibitions
Garrett received the gifts, but it is possible they were from
the 1970 trip and they surely date from sometime between
1970 and 1976, the time he served as mayor.
Children are still taught how to use abacuses
(soroban) in Japanese schools. Japanese foldable fans (sensu)
are made of paper with bamboo frames. They can be plain
or beautifully decorated. One of the fans Mayor Garrett
received is made with paper that has a metallic sheen: gold on
one side and silver on the other. Another of the fans is lilac-
colored and has cherry blossoms decorating it.
The Sister City program seeks to promote
understanding and cultural awareness while also focusing
on humanitarian efforts. These visits focus on providing
cultural opportunities for the delegations, and the Renton
History Museum has often been a stop on the tours in
Renton. We are excited that the museum now has some of
the early gifts that were exchanged during this important
relationship with a city located over 5,000 miles away.
Sarah Samson
Curator
Avery Garrett and Mayor Charles Delaurenti, Sr. with a representative
from Nishiwaki, Japan, ca. 1978.
Above: Gifts given to Mayor Avery Garrett by Sister City Nishiwaki,
Japan. (RHM# 2020.023.001-004)
MEMORIAL DONATIONS
November 16, 2020 - February 10, 2020
Dorlene Bressan
JoAnn Maryott
Bob & Olive Corey
Janet Henkle
Angela Losek
Allen & Shirley Armstrong
Nancy Barei Monahan
Linda Della Rosa
Peter Newing
Deborah Newing
Tim Riley (RHS Class of 1954)
Ron & Sharon Clymer
MEMORIAL
DONATIONS OF
$100 OR MORE
Pearl Burrows
Don Burrows
Beverly (Johnson) Cooks
Jim Cooks
James C. Graham (Class of '52)
Janet Graham
Bea Mathewson
Norm & Carol Abrahamson
Bill, Flora & Pat Monaghan
Marilyn Monaghan Ragle
Janene Sestak
Norm & Carol Abrahamson
Peter J. Newing
Hazel Newing
Shirley Newing
Hazel Newing
Ed Torkelson
Sue & Mike Moeller
DONATIONS OF
$500 OR MORE
Janet Christiansen
Stephen & Theresa Clymer
Craig & Linda Holmes
DONATIONS OF
$100 OR MORE
All Clear Window & Gutter
Cleaning
Dan & Laura Clawson
Jeff Dineen
Janice Tanner
Dorothy Finley
Stan Greene
Terry & Dennis Higashiyama
Hub Insurance Agency
Dan & Liz Hemenway
Caìlìn & Don Hunsaker
Derric & Irma Iles
Jessica Kelly
Lynne & Mike King
Shane & Jennifer Klingenstein
Tom & Linda Morris
Ralph Owen
Judith E. Peters
Sandra A. Polley
Kevin Poole & Bryce Miller
Mary Riley
Jack & Maria Rogers
Mark & Barbara Santos-Johnson
Barbara Sebelist Montemayor
Marlene & Roger Winter Fund
DONATIONS
Anonymous
Carol Howard Aguayo
Al Armstrong
Patricia J. Auten
Joseph & Marjorie Avolio
Linnea Bardarson
Louie & Pam Barei
Laurie & Brent Beden
Bob and Angie Benedetti
Nancy L. Berry
Harry & Janet Blencoe
Glenn & Janet Bressan
Dian Burrows
Don & Carmel Camerini
Loraine Custer
Shirley Custer
Phyllis Davey
Jennifer Davis Hayes
Charles & Jeanette Delaurenti
Michael T. Delaurenti
Victoria Dennis
Barbara J. Dengel
Maryann DiPasquale
Michael R. Dire
Charles G. Divelbiss
Gloria Duffey
Nancy Duke
Diana Durman
Karren Emmons
Joy Garner
Don & Judy Gunderson
Merrie Hamlin
Daniel Hammes
Louise George
Roberta Graver
Karl Hurst
Joyce Jones
Lynne & Mike King
James S. Klepach
Roberta Logue
Donovan Lynch
Renee Lund
Hannelore & John (Pete) Maas
Bruce E MacDonald
Richard Major
Wayne R. Matta
Laurie S. McKenna
Barbara McMichael
Thomas J. Monahan
Gail & John Pavone
Melrose Grill
Lee Mattson
Lucille L. Miller
Lynn Moran
Jeffrey Norcross
Ray & Lynn Peretti
John & Joyce Peterson
Manio & Ann Phillips
Herb & Diana Postlewait
Tom Pratt
Abby Rhinehart
Melvyn Robinson
Terre M. Scappini
Margaret Sebelist
Sally Sheck
Basil Simpson
Barbara Snyder-Rigney
Sally Steiner
Jim Spencer
Mike & Andrea Simpson
Jana A. Tobacco
Daisy Ward
GIVING TUESDAY
FUNDRAISER
Robin Adams
Nancy Almquist
Brent Bennett
Kate Dugdale
Cindy Gano
Amy Gorton
Ashley Kaiser
Jessica Kelly
Lynne Miller King
Laurine Lamb
Melinda Lawrence
Jerry Lenahan
Nolan Lenahan
Colleen Lenahansen
Cathy Lim
Tammy Minalia
Becky Nickels
Ginny Austin Rabago
Ann Ryan
Andrea Stoutelbach
Rosetta Walker
Dorothy Westlund
Lisa Yamasaki
IN-KIND
DONATIONS
McCorkle & Associates
SPRING QUARTERLY, 2021 | 9
NEW MEMBERS
Jeff Anderson
The Anderson family
Cheryl Bachmeier
Fred Brown
Margaret & James Campbell
Carolyn Calhoun
Anita Cary
Jennifer Davis Hayes
Linda Della Rosa
Nancy Dulaney
Mary Clymer
Erika Cooper Deaton
Tina Harris
Britt McKenzie
Marsha Rollinger
The Sok family
David & Carol Graham
BENEFACTOR
MEMBERS
Karen Boswell
PATRON
MEMBERS
Laurie & Brent Beden
Mike Intelkofer
Donna Nelson
LIFE MEMBERS
Bill Kombol
GIFT MEMBERSHIP
DONORS
Jennifer Davis Hayes
Margaret Gambill
Janet Graham
Donovan Lynch
Judy Leu
Judy Matson
Orville Nelson
Stephanie Snyder
DONATIONS OF
$5000 OR MORE
OJ Harper Engineering
Children's Need Fund,
Renton Regional
Community Foundation
DONATIONS OF
$1000 OR MORE
Shirley Phinney
10 | RENTON HISTORY MUSEUM
vague evidence. One woman recalled a conversation she had
had with Gisuke’s wife, Tami, more than two years prior to
the February 1942 hearings, in which Mrs. Hirai had told her
that her husband was visiting Japan and that she was pleased
that two of her children were living in that country. In contrast,
Frank Aliment provided an affidavit on behalf of Hirai: “…
affiant has always considered said Gisuke Hirai as a good
resident of this country and believes that he has always raised
his family – all his children having been born in this country –
to be good, loyal American citizens.”8
By that time, the rest of the Hirai family had also
been forced off the land they had tended for years. They never
returned to the Renton area after the war. Neglect caused
severe damage to the greenhouses.9 In addition, squatters had
taken over the property. According to records of the Minidoka
Relocation Center Legal Division, son Roy Hirai appealed to
authorities to help evict a man who “has not paid a single cent
as rental.”10 Despite assurances of help, it does not appear that
any action was taken.
Nor was this the only tragedy the family faced. Tami
had been released early from Minidoka in 1944 due to health
issues. She passed away a year later. It is likely that the strain
of incarceration contributed to her death at 54.11
Gisuke and Roy were able to establish a greenhouse
in Kent after the war. In 1954, after passage of the Immigration
and Nationality Act of 1952, Gisuke Hirai applied for U.S.
citizenship, something that had been denied him and other Issei
(first generation Japanese immigrants) until that time.
THE MANOS
Meanwhile, on the west side of Renton, the Mano family
established a more enduring institution, the Earlington
Greenhouses. Kikujiro (1896-1971) and Riki (1903-1940)
Mano immigrated from Japan about 1930 and leased a small
greenhouse in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood. A few years
later, about 1937, they moved to the “sunny” side of the hill, a
neighborhood called Earlington which was annexed to Renton
in 2009. They were able to take possession of an existing
nursery on a lease-purchase arrangement. Here they built a
Dutch-style greenhouse, with large glass panels on sloped
sides. With sons George (b. 1930) and Tosh (1928-2017) and
daughter Kiyoko (b. 1926), they began by growing tomatoes
and cucumbers in the greenhouse. Soon they added flowers and
bedding plants outdoors. Easter lilies became a specialty.12
In an oral history, George Mano did not recall any
trouble with neighbors prior to the outbreak of war. As a child,
he played with white neighbor children; together they built a
basketball court in a vacant yard. After Pearl Harbor, however,
things changed quickly and drastically. George recalled the
curfews that affected only Japanese, Italian, and German
families, as well as the “No Japs” signs in shop windows.
When the family had to pack up and leave, it was devastating.
The nursery was just beginning to break even following the
economic depression of the 1930s when they had to walk away,
leaving it with a caretaker lessee.13
THE RETURN
As the war wound down, incarcerated Japanese were gradually
released from confinement, most with a one-way train ticket
and a small grant of cash to get them resettled. Many from
the Renton area did not return, but chose to move closer to
family in other parts of the country. Those who did return often
found their homes and businesses in shambles. For those in the
horticulture industry, starting over meant more than replacing
stolen equipment and repairing greenhouses. Crops had to be
reestablished, supplies obtained, and customer bases rebuilt,
all during a time of lingering resentment. In 1991 a reporter
recounted George Kawachi’s difficulty in picking up his
business: “He started knocking on doors to sell his first crop –
‘all old friends,’ he said. And the answer he heard: ‘I can’t buy
your flowers, they’ll boycott me.’”14
Unlike many other families, the Manos did return to
the Renton area and were able to reclaim their business after
waiting for the caretaker’s lease to run out. The Alien Land
Laws still prohibited Issei from owning land in the state, but
the family, at last, was able to purchase the property outright
in the name of their oldest child, daughter Kiyoko, who was
born in the U.S. In about 1950, son Tosh and his wife, Tomi,
took over management of the business and ran it until 1995.
Looking to retire, the Manos sold the popular nursery to
faithful customers Ron Minter and Paul Farrington, who ran it
for another twenty years under the name Minter’s Earlington
Greenhouse and Nursery.15
In 2001 Tosh Mano spoke to students at Renton High
School about his experiences during the war. Following the
talk, he was presented with his high school diploma.16
While some growers were able to resurrect their
nurseries following incarceration, the heyday of small market
growers was passing quickly. Squeezed by development and
outpaced by large-scale commercial grow operations, many
of the family-owned nurseries faded away in the last decades
of the 20th century. Today housing occupies the former land of
both the Hirais and Manos.
END NOTES
1 Harold “Jiggs” Hoyt, The Story of Bryn Mawr, 1872-1986 (Snohomish,
WA: Snohomish Publishing Company, 1986), pp.41-46; 89.
2 Robert Mizukami oral history, 11 Apr 2000, in possession of Densho, Seattle.
3 Dan McGovern, “After thinking it over,” Renton Chronicle, 16 Apr 1942, p.1.
4 Fred Hirai, email to Elizabeth Stewart, 20 Feb 2013, in possession of RHM.
5 Stan Flewelling, Shirakawa: Stories from a Pacific Northwest Japanese
American Community (Seattle: University of Washington Press for White
River Valley Museum, 2002), pp.170-171.
6 Frank Robert “Bob” Aliment oral history, 31 May 2019, (RHM#
2019.003.003).
7 Flewelling, pp. 189-199.
8 Aliment, Frank, Affidavit, 22 Jan 1942, filed in King County, Washington
State, accessed via National Archives, Alien Detainee Investigative Case
File of Hirai, Gisuke (Class 146-13-2-82-72).
9 Hirai email.
10 Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Report: Gisuke
Hirai, 21 Aug 1942, accessed via National Archives, Alien Detainee
Investigative Case File of Hirai, Gisuke (Class 146-13-2-82-72).
11 Tami Hirai, Washington State Death Records, from Ancestry.com.
12 George Mano oral history, 21 Sep 2019 (RHM# 2019.003.019).
13 George Mano oral history.
14 Peggy Ziebarth, “Rotarians honor one, only ‘Mr. Banzai’,” Valley Daily
News, 13 Oct 1991, p.2.
15 Sources include George Mano oral history; unrecorded interview with Ron
Minter and Paul Farrington, 21 Feb 2020, notes in possession of Eleanor
Boba; and unrecorded conversations and emails with members of the Mano
family, including Karen Little, Kathy Leonard, Charlene Mano Shen.
16 Wendy Giroux, “Teaching honor through his story,” South County Journal,
19 Feb 2001, p.3 ; conversation between Nancy Nishimura and Charlene
Mano Shen, 14 May 2020.
Continued from page 7
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Renton History Museum
235 Mill Avenue South
Renton, WA 98057
Phone: 425.255.2330
Fax: 425.255.1570
rentonhistory.org
CVV code:
Total: $
T he effects of wildfires, which are becoming more far-reaching due to global warming,
are drastic. Smoke from wildfires has national impact. And the fire season now extends
nearly year-round. In 2015, 10.1 million acres burned in the U.S. Locally, increased
wildfire activity means summer skies change from azure blue to hazy brown. The goal of
this project is to help propel an even broader understanding and public conversation of this
volatile dynamic. This dynamic exhibit features over 50 photographs taken by Kari Greer, a
photographer for the National Interagency Fire Center based in Boise, Idaho.
COMING SOON: FACING THE INFERNO From
JUNE
4
to
JULY
30
RENTON HISTORY MUSEUM
235 Mill Ave. S
Renton, WA 98057
Tosh, Kiyoko, and George Mano at Earlington Greehouse, ca. 1950. (RHM# 2019.046.010)
IN HINDSIGHT...