Villa La Paz, at the National Chavez Center in Keene, now boasts a17,000-square foot conference center. The facility has been nominated as a national historic landmark.
The California State Historical Resources Commission has nominated Nuestra Señora Reina de La Paz in Keene, the resting place of civil rights champion César Chávez, for possible placement on the National Register of Historic Places. The nomination comes after a congressional order to conduct a “special resource study” of locations that are significant to the life and work of César Chávez and the farm labor movement. One goal of the study is to integrate past and ongoing contributions of Latino women and men into the National Park Service.
In April, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Jonathan Jarvis, director of the National Parks Service, dedicated the “Forty Acres” complex near Delano as a National Historic Landmark.
According to Marc Grossman, communications director for the César Chávez Foundation, about 60 park service administrators, including Salazar and Jarvis toured La Paz last week.
“The National Chávez Center at Keene was where César spent the last quarter century of his life,” Grossman said adding, “and it is fitting that the National Park Service is so interested in participating with us at Keene because its mission is to tell the story of America. A great part of that story is the story of César Chávez and the farm workers.”
United States Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein (both D-CA) have written a letter urging Salazar to add La Paz as a National Historic Landmark.
“Today, visitors from all over the world visit the National Chávez Center at La Paz to learn about the life, work, values and accomplishments of César Chávez. The story of César Chávez and his indefatigable determination to bring justice and equality to all farm workers is a story that must carry on for future generations,” read the Senators’ letter to the National Park Service.
In 1971, civil rights champion César Chávez and his family moved to the property now known as La Paz in Keene, once the site of the historic Stony Brook Hospital, which was utilized as a tuberculosis sanatorium. La Paz became the headquarters of Chávez’ farm labor movement and ultimately, his final resting place.
In addition to serving as national headquarters for the United Farm Workers union, the National Chávez Center at La Paz now includes a 7,000-square-foot visitor center and the recently opened conference and retreat center.