Historic Wintersburg, Huntington Beach
Photographs courtesy of Jason Foo.
Take Action
Write to Republic Services, Inc. Head Office in Phoenix.
For the past decade the preservation community has tried to engage proactively with the local and regional representatives of Republic Services (and formerly, Rainbow Environmental). Now, please help us get the attention of their CEO and Board of Directors at their corporate office in Phoenix, Arizona. Join our letter writing campaign to the headquarters of the publicly-traded corporation, Republic Services, Inc. Copy and paste our talking points listed here, or write about what you think the company should do to turn around years of neglect and non-action. Read what others have written recently.
Suggested talking points:
Demand that the company immediately take steps to safeguard the four remaining historic buildings and formally commit to preventing vandalism and protecting against fire on the property.
Demand that they permit conservationists and/or archeologists to access the property to collect ash and artifacts to honor and save what is left of the mission church and parsonage.
Tell them that you endorse a vision for the property as a heritage park and community resource.
Urge the company to enter talks in good faith with the Ocean View School District, Heritage Museum of Orange County, and Preserve Orange County to transition the ownership of the property.
Explain that a proactive response and meaningful action in the wake of this tragic destruction of cultural heritage is the ethical and responsible thing to do for a highly visible corporation that benefits from the communities of Huntington Beach and Orange County.
If sending by regular mail, please address to:
Donald W. Slager, CEO
Manuel Kadre, Chairman of the Board of Directors
Board of Directors
Republic Services Inc.
18500 N. Allied Way, Phoenix, Arizona 85054
We do not have executive email addresses so please email your letter to the following people in Investor Relations, Media Relations, and Communications:
If sending by regular mail, the company address is:
Republic Services Inc., 18500 N. Allied Way, Phoenix, Arizona 85054
UPDATE: APRIL 11, 2022
The police and arson reports were released to the public.
UPDATE: MARCH 7, 2022
Shortly before 9 am on Friday, February 25, 2022 a fire of unknown origin destroyed the 112 year old manse (parsonage) and mission church of the 1910 Wintersburg Japanese Mission. Both historic buildings were demolished within a few hours of the fire. According to the City of Huntington Beach, an investigation is ongoing.
In recent months, efforts have been made to notify Republic Services about the ongoing vandalism and poor maintenance of the property but Republic has never responded. In Two weeks before the fire in early February, Wintersburg historian and preservation advocate Mary Adams Urashima contacted regional Republic Services manager Dave Hauser and other other managers with Republic Services in writing with photo documentation about serious damage inflicted on the main entrance door to the 1934 mission church and the lack of security and maintenance on the property. No reply was received. For the past decade, Mary Adams Urashima has contacted prior owner Rainbow Environmental and then, after their purchase of Rainbow in 2014, Republic Services, to notify them of vandalism, trespassing, and risk to the historic structures and the property. Community preservationists arranged for thousands of dollars worth of professional tree trimming and brush removal on the property at no cost to Republic Services as a good faith effort. Since 2014, the Historic Wintersburg preservation group with national partners has met with Republic Services local and regional management to discuss purchasing the property for historic preservation. Republic Services agreed both privately and publicly to the media to work cooperatively on this.
Since December 2021, the Board of Trustees of OVSD has made efforts to contact local and regional leadership of Republic Services including Chris Kentopp and Dave Hauser to inform them of a potential buyer for the property that intended to preserve the buildings and landscape, and to convey serious concerns about the neglect of the property. They specifically cited the risk to of fire of due to the overgrown brush on the site. The company’s managers never responded.
Preservation Coalition Media Release
Letters from Japanese American Groups and City of Huntington Beach
PRESERVATION EFFORT
Since 2017, when Preserve Orange County placed Historic Wintersburg on our Most Endangered list, the organization has supported grassroots advocacy efforts led by Mary Adams Urashima and the Los Angeles office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In recent months, the preservation initiative has deepened regionally with the Heritage Museum of Orange County and Preserve Orange County taking more active roles in finding a preservation solution for the property.
Preserve Orange County’s position is that the Historic Wintersburg property is a historic resource as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act, eligible for listing at the state or national level of significance for the National Register of Historic Places for potentially all four levels of significance: its association with events that have contributed to important patterns in the agricultural and social history of Huntington Beach and Orange County; its association with leaders of the Japanese immigrant and Japanese American community in Orange County; and its embodiment of rural vernacular building types dating from the early to the middle twentieth century. It’s also possible that Historic Wintersburg qualifies for the National Register for the property’s archeological potential.
Preserve Orange County is committed to working with our partners to exert pressure on Republic Services Inc. to immediately safeguard the property; expand the dialogue with Republic with the goal of securing a sale or donation of the property; identify and secure funding opportunities; and develop a plan for restoration and re-use of the cultural landscape and historic buildings in order to achieve the vision of a heritage park and community resource.
ROLE OF HERITAGE MUSEUM OF ORANGE COUNTY
In a 12-acre setting in the southwest corner of Santa Ana is the The Heritage Museum of Orange County (HMOC) is located on 12 acres in southwest Santa Ana, 15 minutes east of Historic Wintersburg off the former Wintersburg Road (now Warner Avenue) . As a cultural and natural history center with historic buildings and landscapes of its own, HMOC is uniquely positioned to help realize the longterm vision for Historic Wintersburg. In 2021, HMOC assumed joined the Historic Wintersburg Preservation project in a formal development partnership and fundraising role for the Historic Wintersburg initiative and shares a commitment to working with all our neighbors while sharing the history of all Americans. The museum states on its website that:
“HMOC will steward donations in a dedicated account to help continue the discussions with Republic Services to purchase the property for preservation of the structures and for the plans to regreen and reopen the farm.”
ROLE OF OCEAN VIEW SCHOOL DISTRICT
Any longterm preservation solution must include the Ocean View School District, not only because the district is a leading steward of the Oak View neighborhood surrounding Wintersburg but also because of its legal relationship to the Wintersburg property.
A preschool and elementary school owned by the Ocean View School District (OVSD) are adjacent to the Wintersburg site, and surrounding streets including parts of Nichols Lane, Emerald Street and all of Belsito Street are within OVSD boundaries. OVSD successfully sued Republic Services for environmental violations resulting in a 2016 settlement agreement that dramatically restricts the use of the land by the Company and any future owner. The property, previously zoned for agriculture, was rezoned Medium Residential in 2004 and any zoning change would have to be approved by the City of Huntington Beach and the school district. Board of Trustees President, Gina Clayton Tarvin has said that she will continue to work to achieve a preservation solution and historic park for the site. In her March 4, 2022 letter in which she urges the City of Huntington Beach to direct the Huntington Beach Fire Department to conduct a thorough arson investigation, she states:
“We join the many voices from the Japanese American community, preservationists, and community of Huntington Beach that are appalled by the actions of Republic Services, and we are calling for accountability.”
WHY HISTORIC WINTERSBURG MATTERS
Historic Wintersburg in Huntington Beach is a National Treasure historic site representing over a century of Japanese immigrant and Japanese American history, representative of Japanese American settlement of the American West. The property consists of six extant structures on a 4.5-acre (1.8 ha). Historic Wintersburg (the C.M. Furuta Gold Fish Farm and the Wintersburg Japanese Mission) is recognized nationally as a rare, Japanese pioneer-owned property with intact physical features that convey the progression of Japanese American history. In 2014, Historic Wintersburg was named one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places and in 2015 it was designated a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, D.C.
Historic Wintersburg is representative of Orange County's early agricultural history and the West Coast's immigration and civil liberties history. Three generations of Japanese American history are represented: immigration of the Issei from Japan in the late 19th century, restrictions on immigration and marriage, the exclusion and discrimination of California’s Alien Land Laws, the incarceration of Americans of Japanese descent during World War II, and the return to California to recover lives after World War II confinement.
The Historic Wintersburg Preservation Task Force has partnered with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Trust for Public Land in an effort to purchase the property from its current owner, the waste management company, Republic Services, for preservation as a historic site and public park. In January 2018, Republic Services announced it was entering into a sale agreement with a storage company. Since the announcement, national media has brought attention to the issue and the public has demonstrated its opposition, but the site's fate remains uncertain.
More information: historicwintersburg.blogspot.com and on Wikipedia
Furuta Gold Fish Farm, courtesy of historicwintersburg.blogspot.com.
Japanese Presbyterian Mission (right), courtesy of historicwintersburg.blogspot.com.
Bird’s eye view of the 4.5 acre Historic Wintersburg site with Warner Avenue to the north and Nichols Lane to the west. The photograph shows each of the historic buildings. The February 25, 2022 fire and demolition occurred to the pastor’s house and church #1 in the northwest corner. Photograph credit: 2012 Warner-Nichols EIR, City of Huntington Beach.