Morikami Park
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Morikami Park is in Delray Beach, Florida, and is operated by the Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation Department. The park is named after George Morikami, who donated the land for the park to Palm Beach County. It is the site of the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, the American Orchid Society Visitor Center and Botanical Garden, and the Biwa Pavilion, with group shelters and picnic tables. There is a nature trail through the undeveloped part of the park.
[edit] George Morikami
George Sukeji Morikami was a Japanese immigrant to the United States who farmed in Palm Beach County for more than 65 years. He donated his 200 acres (80 hectares) of farm land to Palm Beach County in 1973.
George Morikami was born in Miyazu, Japan. He was 19 years old when he emigrated to the United States in 1906 to join the Yamato Colony, a Japanese farming community in what is now Boca Raton, Florida. When he joined the Yamato Colony, he was unmarried, and did not plan to stay long. Although the Yamato Colony ultimately failed, George Morikami stayed on and eventually prospered. He and other remaining Yamato colonists were dispossessed from their land after the United States entered World War II, when their land was taken to create an Army Air Corps training base (see also: Boca Raton Airport). Near the end of the war, George Morikami bought land in Delray Beach, Florida, and farmed it for almost thirty years.
George Morikami was in his 80s when he donated his land for a park. He died at age 89 in 1976, a year after the groundbreaking for Morikami Park. His ashes were eventually returned to Miyazu. There is a monument to him in the Japanese gardens in the park. Delray Beach is a Sister City to Miyazu in honor of George Morikami.
[edit] References
- Morikami history URL retrieved October 19, 2006
- Morikami bonsai exhibit URL retrieved October 19, 2006
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