BOYS TOWN, Neb. (AP) — Some houses being torn down to make way for commercial development in eastern Nebraska once sheltered Japanese-Americans escaping forced internment on the West Coast after the United States entered World War II.

The houses and surrounding buildings amid farmland west of Boys Town are giving way to a $1.2 billion entertainment, residential and retail district.

Boys Town orphanage founder Father Edward Flanagan urged Japanese-Americans to come live in the homes shortly after they were built in the early 1940s. Flanagan found them jobs on campus or helped them establish new lives in cities outside of Omaha.

Boys Town Director of Community Programs Tom Lynch says more than 200 relocated Japanese-Americans spent time in the town during the war, with about 30 living on campus.