OPEN SATURDAYS
& SUNDAYS
11 AM TO 3 PM
FREE ADMISSION
NOW ON VIEW
Students, families and friends gather for a group portrait at the Holland Union Gakuen, Clarksburg’s Japanese Language School, early 1930s.
This exhibit tells the story of Clarksburg’s Japanese American community through the voices, photographs, and personal histories of the families who built their lives along the Sacramento River. Drawn from the archives of the Holland Doshi Kai and from family collections, these materials offer a deeply personal view of a community shaped by migration, hard work, resilience, and continuity across generations.
Mitsuhei and Kaga Sakata
Executive Order 9066 authorized the forced removal and incarceration of people of Japanese ancestry, most of them American citizens.
Harold Hiromoto in carrot field, 1952
Early Schools of the North Delta
In the second half of the 19th century, Gold Rush settlers rapidly transformed the North Delta from tidal marsh to farmland. As the population grew, so did the need for schools — mostly small, rural, and locally run, serving the children of settlers, farmers, and farm laborers. These schools reflected the region’s diversity, educating Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Italian, Filipino, and Mexican American children alongside Anglo and Black settlers.
Freeport Elementary school, 1892
Welcome!
Meet Miss Ferguson! She takes you inside the 1883 Clarksburg Schoolhouse to share what it was really like to teach — and learn — back in 1912. Watch to see the Schoolhouse come to life!
Step back to 1912! Kids can grab a slate and take a seat at an antique cast-iron desk to get schooled the old-fashioned way — no smartphones, just chalk and cursive.
Dedicated to preserving the heritage and culture of our very precious and unique delta community.
As luck would have it, the second oldest school in Clarksburg, California, built in 1883, remained unnoticed and relatively unharmed at the Noah Adams Lumber Yard since the school closed in 1923. Its significance has made it a natural focal point for coalescing interest in the preservation of the rich history of our region.