Wyoming Arts Council

Construction is coming along for the Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center in Park County (see photo above). The grand opening of the learning center, located on the site of the World War II Heart Mountain Relocation Camp, is scheduled for June 2010. You can mark the progress of construction as you drive Wyoming Hwy. 14 between Cody and Powell in Park County.

Here’s a description of the project from the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation web site:

The ILC will provide an overview of the wartime relocation of Japanese Americans, including the background history of Asian prejudice in America and the factors leading to the enforced confinement of West Coast Japanese Americans. Special emphasis will be given to constitutional issues, civil liberties and rights, diversity education and training and ethnic understanding. The Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center will also provide links and virtual connections to other historical sites, research centers, and collections dealing with related issues.

Historic events specific to the Heart Mountain Relocation Center will be the central focus of the ILC’s content. Camp life, internee responses to relocation, debates over military service and the draft, the relationships between the internees and their Wyoming neighbors, the camp’s contribution to the area’s agricultural economy, the sacrifices of Heart Mountain servicemen, and the postwar experience of the internees will all be brought to life in the Learning Center’s multi-media exhibits.