HEART MOUNTAIN INTERNMENT CAMP

Park County, Wyoming

Design Team: Kurt Dubbe, AIA; John Fabian

The property owner, the Bureau of Reclamation, working with Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources Department and the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, asked DMA to review and assess the condition of the existing masonry chimney at Heart Mountain Internment Camp, located in Park County, Wyoming. 

The chimney is the only fully intact chimney structure remaining at any of the ten Japanese Relocation and Internment Centers in the U.S. built during World War II. Because of this exceptional historical significance and integrity, the site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006.

Despite this designation, the chimney at the time of our assessment was in poor condition and in need of immediate stabilization work. To initiate this work, DMA specifically assessed the vertical alignment of the chimney and documented how much the chimney had shifted since 2002, the date of the previous evaluation. We also provided an updated list of prioritized preservation treatments.

This report informed future management decisions relating to the preservation of this historic site.

DMA was subsequently engaged as preservation architects as part of a team of professional consultants consisting of architect of record, preservation engineers, Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office, Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources, the Bureau of Reclamation, the National Park Service, and the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation to prepare and implement detailed preservation strategies to ensure that the Heart Mountain Chimney structure will remain an important component in the cultural story of our past.

For information on the subject of Japanese Internment Camps, visit this page.