Update: The Filipino Community Hall achieved recognition on the National Register of Historic Places in January 2024.

The Wapato Filipino Community Hall has always held a special place in the hearts of Lower Yakima Valley residents. Soon, the cultural significance of the 71-year-old landmark at 211 W. Second St. could be known far beyond Central Washington.

Led by a group of local advocates, including former president Rey Pascua, the Filipino Community Hall is now a candidate for a national historic designation — an honor that is expected to be bestowed as soon as early next year. If everything goes according to plan, the iconic Wapato gathering place, officially dedicated in 1952, is likely to be added to the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

“There is no hall like the Filipino Hall in Wapato,” said Pascua, who served as president of the Filipino American Community of the Yakima Valley from 1999-2020. “It truly is a point of pride for our community because it’s the only hall built with the expressed purpose of being a Filipino hall. That’s why the national office is considering putting its stamp on it.”

Earlier this year, the hall became a Washington state historic site after a unanimous vote by the Advisory Committee on Archeology and Historic Preservation. Now, the National Parks Service is eyeing the beloved building as a candidate for inclusion on the National Register, joining the Filipino Hall on Bainbridge Island, a converted lumber mill. 

Yakima County currently has 69 entries on the registry, including the Capitol Theatre and the Larson Building in Yakima, Bumping Lake Resort near Naches, Fort Simcoe State Park in White Swan and the Teapot Dome Service Station in Zillah.

The official announcement for the Filipino Community Hall may not come until this spring, but Pascua said he’s hopeful it will be in time for the annual anniversary celebration, which typically falls on the last Saturday in March. There has been talk about postponing the event until April to accommodate the big news, but Pascua noted that there’s no way to be certain.

“We don’t know when the announcement will come, but when it finally does, it will be a celebration day for our entire community,” he said, adding that the Filipino Community Hall’s appearance hasn’t changed much since it was officially inaugurated on March 2, 1952. 

“We have always sought to preserve the integrity of the hall so we could keep it as a true community center that future generations can continue to celebrate in,” Pascua continued. “I’m glad it has lasted as long as it has, and this designation will help ensure that its legacy lives on for many more years.”

The resources listed on the National Register include districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that have been identified and documented as being significant in American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering or culture. These sites and properties reflect the prehistoric occupation and historical development of the nation, state, and local communities. The resources selected are typically at least 50 years old.

According to the state Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation, being chosen encourages the preservation of significant historic resources in four ways:

  • by formally documenting resources for future study;
  • by providing official recognition of the historic significance of the property an encouraging consideration of its historic value in the future development planning;
  • by providing consideration regarding activities involving funding, licensing, or permitting by federal agencies that could result in damage or loss of historic integrity; and
  • by making the property eligible for federal financial incentives for historic preservation. 

A Little History

Filipinos have a long history in the Yakima Valley — one that includes overcoming harsh discrimination in the early 20th century. Mob violence threatened Filipino farmworkers and their families in the 1920s and ‘30s, and in 1937, the federal Alien Land Act barred Filipinos from leasing and buying land, which led to the arrest of 18 Filipinos in the Lower Valley.

Shortly thereafter, Filipino families in the Valley — many who lived in Wapato — banded together to form the Filipino American Community of the Yakima Valley. Fifteen years later, they the built first Filipino Hall in the American West, with funds raised from members of the Filipino American Community of the Yakima Valley.

To this day, there is nothing like it in Washington.

“Seattle bought their Filipino American community hall in 1965, but it had previously been a bowling alley,” Pascua said. “The Wapato building was built from the ground up.”

Pascua’s father first came to the Valley as an unmarried farmworker in 1927. He later returned to the Philippines, where he met Pascua’s mother, before the entire family immigrated to Wapato in 1953. 

Pascua explained that the Yakima Valley began to see a large influx of Filipinos in 1965 when federal immigration laws were updated to allow non-White people to own land and marry outside of their race. Six decades later, Filipinos continue to have a strong presence across the region, most notably in Wapato.

Conversations about other local sites for the National Register are already underway.

“The national office gave us $50,000 and worked with our chapter to identify a historic site and others that should be recognized,” Pascua said. “One of those place is Little Manila, a neighborhood in South Wapato where many Filipino families lived starting in the mid-1950s. We have also applied for Little Manila to become a National Historic District, but the main focus right now is on the Community Hall. That’s the one site in Eastern Washington that means the most to all of us.”