Mary Adams Urashima leads a tour of the Historic Wintersburg site in Huntington Beach in 2016.
The Huntington Beach property commonly known as Historic Wintersburg — the subject of years of community advocacy, which is ongoing — on Jan. 2 was officially determined historic by the State Historical Resources Commission (SHRC) for its association with Orange County’s Japanese American history.
Nominated by the Historic Wintersburg Conservancy as the Wintersburg Historic District, the approximately 4.5-acre property consists of the Spanish Colonial Revival style Japanese Presbyterian Church of Wintersburg, constructed in 1934, and three buildings associated with the C.M. Furuta Farm — the Craftsman-style Furuta House #1 and adjacent Furuta Barn, both constructed in 1912, and the Ranch-style Furuta House #2, constructed in 1947.
The SHRC, a nine-member body with members appointed by the governor, is responsible for reviewing applications for listing historic and archaeological resources on the National Register of Historic Places, the California Register of Historical Resources, and the California Historical Landmarks and California Points of Historical Interest registration programs. These designations make up an official list of the state’s historic places worthy of preservation and public attention.
HWC President Ernie Nishii remarked, “This is an incredible step as one of the only Japanese American historic districts in Orange County centered on church and farm life in early 1800s and whose owners were incarcerated in World War II.”
The SHRC agreed with the nomination that Wintersburg is significant because “It represents the surviving remnant of the former farming community of Wintersburg historically associated with Japanese settlement in the area in the early 20th century and after World War II.”
The SHRC also recommended Wintersburg to the National Register of Historic Places, and although the federal authorities agreed formally that it met the qualifications, they announced on Jan. 2 that the property would not be added to the National Register because the property owner did not consent to the action.
HWC Vice President Ken Inouye noted, “We have done great things with the support of the Ocean View School District and Trustee Gina Clayton Tarvin.”
The significance of Wintersburg and the interest in protecting it has long been acknowledged. In 2014, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named it one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places and designated it a National Treasure in 2015, yet the property remains endangered today.
Due to nuisance issues affecting the school and community, the Ocean View School district sued the property owner. Vacant for nearly two decades and never adequately secured, the buildings are in poor condition. In 2022, a fire led to the destruction of the original 1910 mission and parsonage, leaving four of the six structures remaining.
Established in 2023, the HWC is a tax-exempt charity carrying on the work of Huntington Beach resident and longtime Wintersburg advocate and historian Mary Adams Urashima, who passed away in 2022. The conservancy board of directors is made up of residents from Orange and Los Angeles counties who share her vision of restoring the structures and rehabilitating the open land to create a historic park that is a tangible representation of the Japanese American past and provides a community amenity for the future.
Preparation of the nomination by Historic Resources Group of Pasadena was made possible with funding raised by the HWC from hundreds of individual donors as well as the Aratani CARE Awards.
For more information about the Wintersburg Historic District and the Historic Wintersburg Conservancy, go to: www.facebook.com/HistoricWintersburginHuntingtonBeach