anchorage and its centennial · 2015-09-30 · anchorage centennial: 1915-2015 in just 100 years...

Anchorage Centennial:

1915-2015

In just 100 years Anchorage has developed into a

remarkable community, with a diverse economy based in

resource extraction, maritime, land and air transportation,

military defense, municipal, state and federal government,

tourism, health services, professional services, and corporate

headquarters (both multi-national and native corporations).

In 2015 Anchorage celebrated its Centennial. Thanks to

generous grants from the Anchorage Assembly and Rasmuson

Foundation, with support from Mayors Sullivan and Berkowitz,

the community has produced a legacy book and film and has

offered dozens of “grassroots” projects offering unique ways to

celebrate this important milestone.

Anchorage and Its Centennial


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Centennial Celebrations

Anchorage Log Cabin Quilters

Centennial Quilt Show—ongoing now

Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery

presentations and history tours

Anchorage Museum—Captain Cook,

Far North Baseball and “City Lights”

Alaska Botanical Garden displays

Cook Inlet Historical Society—

Imagining Anchorage Symposium and

Pending Book (UA Press in 2016)

Cyranos Theater Company—ten

different plays about each decade

City wide celebrations (tent city and

concert), memorial print, and

newspaper/television presentations


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Anchorage should be proud of its standing in the nation and

world. It is the northernmost city in the United States with more

than 100,000 residents—the largest community in North America

north of the 60th Parallel (4th in the world). It has a remarkably

diverse population—100 languages spoken by school children.

Anchorage is Alaska’s largest city, now eclipsing all others by

ten times. Its metropolitan area includes more than half the

state’s population. It is the most dominant city in population in

any of the states except New York.

It has been named an all-America city by the National Civic

League four times, in 1956, 1965, 1984–85, and 2002, and is

considered the most tax-friendly city in the United States.

Anchorage and Its Centennial

Four Themes of

Anchorage History:


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1—Anchorage’s First People: the Dena’ina

2—Europeans Reach Cook Inlet

3—Anchorage’s Founding in 1915

4—Statehood and Earthquake (1959-1964)

One: The Dena’ina


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The indigenous inhabitants of the Cook Inlet Region are the

Dena’ina. Dena’ina is one of 11 Athabascan languages spoken in Alaska.

The Dena'ina arrived in Southcentral Alaska between 1,000 and 1,500 years

ago. They are a matrilineal culture, tracing their ancestors through their mothers

and grandmothers.

They lived in nomadic bands, moving in seasonal subsistence rounds, and

eventually developed permanent homes and communities. They were the only

northern Athabascan group to live on the coast and took advantage of the

abundant plant and animal resources, developing a high degree of sophistication

and complexity in their culture.

When the Russians arrived in Southcentral Alaska in the late 1700s, it is

believed that there were 3,000 to 5,000 Dena'ina living in the area. Today 1,500-

2,000 people with Dena’ina ancestry live in Southcentral Alaska.

The

Dena’ina

Homeland—

Southcentral

Alaska


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Tyonek

Dena’ina

circa 1900


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The Ezi family standing by their fish racks and

smoke house at Point Woronzof, probably in 1942.


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Russian Orthodox missionaries arrived in the 1840's. Natives were

converted to the Russian Orthodox faith. Part of the conversion was the

practice of housing the dead in "Spirit Houses”—still in use today.


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Putting up salmon in smoke house today


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TWO:


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Europeans

Reach Cook

Inlet

Russians in Alaska Before 1778


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Bering’s Second Voyage—1741—2,000 men

Chirikov—St. Paul—loss of a dozen crew and shore boats near Sitka

Bering—St. Peter—observes Alaska but voyage lost in Commander Is.

Bering’s First Voyage—1728

St. Gavril—60 ft. long—100 men Encounters Fog—passes Alaska coastline without seeing land

Czar Peter the Great (died 1729)

Hired Vitus Bering—Dane who spends lifetime in Russian Navy

Czar wonders about Siberian/American Connection

Cook’s Three Voyages


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The routes of Captain James Cook's voyages. The first voyage is shown in red,

second voyage in green, and third voyage in blue. The route of Cook's crew

following his death is shown as a dashed blue line.

Cook’s Ships


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Third Voyage to Alaska


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Cook departed England at the time of the

American Revolution, July 1776

Clerke, Gore, King, Vancouver, Bligh,

Ledyard, and other important officers/seamen

on board

He was the first European to find and

explore Hawaii (Kauai) in January 1778

Instructed to look for rumored Northwest

Passage in area of Alaska

Reached coastal Oregon in March, then

traversed coast, reaching Cook Inlet in May

Stopped by Arctic ice pack in August 1778

Killed in Hawaii on February 14, 1779

Expedition continued to Siberia after Cook


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Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, Canada


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Inside a Home at Yuquot, Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, Canada


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Mt. Edgcumbe, near Sitka


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The Latest Russian

Map of Alaska—

absurd today—

showing “Alaschka

Island” and many

other islands in

the speculative

“Great Northern

Archipelago”


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Snug Corner Cove, Eastern Prince William Sound.

Chugach men and women from nearby villages approach by boat to trade

with the British vessels, the first European ships that they had seen.


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A young Chugach woman, her brow and cheeks rouged with face paint, is portrayed

with nose pin, beaded lip stud, and pierced earrings. The beads appear to be traditional

types made of shell, jet, shale, bone, or amber, based on their tubular and tear-drop

shapes. The woman’s fur cloak may be black bear, her dress soft caribou skin.


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Chugach Sugpiaq men dressed in seal intestine parkas and spruce root hats

paddle a two-hatch kayak and an angyaq with ten paddlers and passengers.

Both types of boats were constructed of wooden frames sheathed in seal or sea

lion skin. The standing man, probably the leader of a trading party, wears a hat

topped with woven cylinders and spreads his arms in a traditional greeting.


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Turnagain River, Cook Inlet The expedition entered Cook Inlet on May 21, 1778, sailing and anchoring with the tides for six days.

The two ships anchored off Fire Island. William Bligh first surveyed Knik Arm with a small crew in a shore boat.

James King then sent with two shore boats up Turnagain Arm, but with wind and tides against them, they “turned again.” British possession of the area was claimed at Pt. Possession on June 1, 1778, but the area was not named by Cook. King’s ceremony was presumed the first European contact with the Dena’ina people. The British Admiralty later named the water body for Cook. Captain George Vancouver returned in 1794 to confirm there was no Northwest Passage here. He said it was an “inlet” from the ocean.


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Turnagain River, Cook Inlet During the ten days spent exploring “Cook’s

River,” the British traded on several occasions with

men in kayaks and with parties of men, women, and

children in large skin-covered boats.

Clothing, beads, and iron from the ships were

exchanged for various furs (sea otter, marten,

marmot, hare, and Arctic ground squirrel) as well as

fresh and dried salmon and halibut.

Cook observed that the watercraft, clothing,

personal ornaments, and weapons of the people

appeared similar to the Chugach of the Sound.

Right—a Dena’ina man wearing a fringed caribou

hide tunic, with face paint, a bone nose pin, a labret

with pendant glass trade beads, and a bead necklace.


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Cook’s Voyage In Cook Inlet


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Cook’s Voyage In Cook Inlet Cook contemplated the Anchorage area:

“I was induced, very much against my own opinion and judgment,

to pursue the Course I did, as it was the opinion of some of the

Officers that we should certainly find a passage to the North, and

the late pretended Discoveries of the Russians tended to confirm it.

“Had we succeeded, a good deal of time would certainly have been

saved but as we did not, nothing but a trifling point in Geography

has been determined, and a River discovered that probably opens a

very extensive communication with the Inland parts, and the

climate seemed to be as favorable for a settlement as any part of

the world under the same degree of latitude.”


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Cook Continued to the Arctic—

Shooting Seahorses (Walrus)


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Map of Alaska After Cook’s Voyage


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European Voyages to Alaska After Cook

French LaPerouse Lituya Bay 1786, then lost in New

Hebridies typhoon

Russian Grigor Shelikov

Three Saints Bay Colony then

Russians move to Kodiak in 1786

Joseph Billings to Prince William Sound in 1790

English Fur traders in 1786 (Portlock, Dixon, Hanna and Mears)

Nootka Sound Crisis

Vancouver charts San Diego to Anchorage

coastline in 1792-94

Spanish Perez 1774 then

Bodega y Quadra 1775 to Southeast

Alaska

Ignacio de Arteaga takes possession at Port Etches

1779; Martinez to Unalaska in 1788

Malaspina Grand Voyage—in 1791

visits Yakutat Bay


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Vancouver’s

Chart of

Cook Inlet

(1794)

THREE:


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Anchorage’s Founding in 1915

ALASKA RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION


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In 1914 The U.S. Congress agreed to fund construction and operation of a railroad from Seward to Fairbanks, with an estimated construction cost of $35 million—nearly 10% of the federal budget.

In 1915 Anchorage was created as a railroad construction headquarters along Ship Creek where the railroad moved from Seward. By 1917, Railroad construction crews peaked at 4,500 workers.

Colonel Frederick Mears, a wartime railroad engineer and decorated hero, was named the Chief Engineer of the Alaska Engineering Commission. He enlisted the local Army garrison to settle a labor dispute and then finished the railroad at a cost of $56 million.

On July 15, 1923, President Warren G. Harding drove the golden spike in ceremonies in Nenana, then one of the state's largest cities.

ANCHORAGE’S FOUNDING


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After Ship Creek Landing was selected as the headquarters of the railroad construction effort a “Tent City” quickly sprang up with a population of more than 2,000.

Would-be entrepreneurs flocked to this bustling frontier town, and brought with them everything necessary to build a city. A popular hardware and clothing store, “The Anchorage” was actually an old dry-docked steamship named “Berth,” from which the town got its name.

Although the area had been known by various names, the U.S. Post Office formalized the use of the name “Anchorage,” and despite some protests, the name stuck. Anchorage was incorporated as a city on November 23,1920.

Mud, sewage and potable water were an immediate issue, so the federal government soon held an auction of downtown lots in July 1915.

ANCHORAGE’S FOUNDING—Tent City 1915


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EARLY ANCHORAGE BASEBALL—July 4, 1915


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EARLY ANCHORAGE BASEBALL


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ANCHORAGE’S FOUNDING— AUCTION OF DOWNTOWN LOTS, July 1915

(story by Evangeline Atwood)


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In June of 1915 an executive order from the President arrived authorizing the town site of Anchorage. The plateau north of the flats, now known as Government Hill, was set aside for permanent employee homes.

On the south bluff, a town site of 347 acres was cleared and laid out into 50 foot by 140 foot lots.

One hundred lots were reserved for federal and municipal purposes, schools and parks and the balance were for sale at auction.

July 10, 1915 was a gala day in the Ship Creek camp as town lots were to be sold at auction. Over two thousand people assembled in front of a temporary platform erected for the auctioneer.

ANCHORAGE’S FOUNDING, July 10, 1915


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ANCHORAGE’S FOUNDING— AUCTION OF DOWNTOWN LOTS, July 10, 1915 (Byron Birdsall)


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ANCHORAGE’S FOUNDING— AUCTION OF DOWNTOWN LOTS, July 10, 1915


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Folks were restless as they waited for the sale to get underway, wondering about the permanency of the town and the conditions of sale. Each lot was given an appraised value between $255 to $400. Deeds included a clause of forfeiture in the event the property was used for immoral purposes or if the owner was convicted of selling liquor.

At 2 o’clock, the auctioneer, Andrew Christiansen, mounted the platform and addressed the gathering. He gave assurances of great plans which the federal government had for Anchorage that included expenditures of millions of dollars. These words went far toward dissipating doubts about the stability of the town and lively bidding ensued.

Competitive bidding lasted two days and brought $148,000 for 655 lots. Development came quickly after the lots sold. Fourth Avenue alone

boasted over 145 permanent buildings within six months.

ANCHORAGE’S FOUNDING—1917 (4th Avenue)


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ANCHORAGE’S FOUNDING—Delivering Mail from 4th Avenue


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ALASKA RAILROAD—Driving the First Spike

at Ship Creek


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ALASKA RAILROAD—SHIP CREEK


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ALASKA RAILROAD—TURNAGAIN

ARM


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ALASKA RAILROAD Under Construction

(ties awaiting rails near Anchorage; Mears Memorial Bridge in

Nenana, completed in 1923)


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ALASKA RAILROAD— Engine Crossing Tanana River on ice at Nenana—1922


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ALASKA RAILROAD—Presidential Train—July 1923


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ALASKA RAILROAD—Golden Spike—July 15, 1923


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ANCHORAGE HOTEL 1920


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EARLY ANCHORAGE: First Radio Station, KFQD, 1924


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EARLY ANCHORAGE:

CLUB 25 BUILDING


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EARLY ANCHORAGE


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Anchorage Becomes Alaska’s Largest City


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Anchorage was not formally incorporated until 1920 and in its first

decade the city's population never exceeded 4,000.

In the 1930s air transportation and military defense greatly expanded

the railroad economy. Merrill Field opened in 1930 and Elmendorf Air

Force Base and Fort Richardson were constructed in the 1940, when the

population surpassed 5,000. The international airport was built in 1951—it

is now the hub for many national and international airlines, connecting

most cities in the state, and it is perhaps the primary international air

freight gateway and seaplane base in the nation.

It was only after Statehood that the community became the center of

Alaska’s population, surpassing the more established Seward, Juneau and

Fairbanks. By Statehood the population stood at nearly 45,000; the

combined population of the next 5 largest cities was less than 30,000.


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Robert Atwood, Bill Egan, Bob Bartlett and Ernest Gruening

Four: Achieving Statehood and

the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake

SWANSON RIVER OILFIELD


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After World War II oil companies turned their attention to Alaska, and particularly federal properties on the Kenai Peninsula.

On July 19, 1957 the Alaska Territory’s first commercial oilfield was discovered. Richfield Oil Company of California discovered the Swanson River oil field on July 15, 1957, yielding 900 barrels per day.

A host of companies followed to find more oil as Phillips, Marathon, Unocal, Shell, Sunray, Mobil, Chevron and Texaco signed leases in the area. More discoveries followed on shore and offshore in Cook Inlet and by June 1962 about 50 wells were producing more than 20,000 barrels of oil per day.

Congress viewed the discovery as the foundation for a secure economic base and Statehood was granted two years later.

SWANSON RIVER OILFIELD


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Bob Atwood’s Anchorage Daily

Times heralded the Senate’s

decision with the shortest

banner headline in its history.

In six and one-half letters

across the page, the newspaper

proclaimed in an extra edition

“WE’RE IN.”

Sirens blared in towns across

the territory and a giant

bonfire was lit in an Anchorage

park. A temporary star was

added to a huge 48-star flag on

the Anchorage federal building.


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President Eisenhower Visits Anchorage June 1960

Two months after Ike’s

parade, then candidate

John Kennedy visited the

Alaska State Fair in August

1960, initiating his “new

frontiers” campaign for

President.

Matanuska Valley

Homesteader J. V.

Kruscavage meets the

candidate. His donkey,

Cindy, got a big laugh.


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Anchorage:

All America

City 1956


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Fur

Rondy

1962


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Westward

Hotel

1964


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Portage

Glacier

1960s

The Good Friday Earthquake—1964


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The 1964 Alaska earthquake, known to Alaskans as the Good Friday

Earthquake, began at 5:36 P.M. AST on Friday, March 27. It was one of the

most frightful natural events of modern time. Lasting three minutes,

ground fissures, collapsing buildings, and tsunamis throughout Southcentral

Alaska caused 143 deaths.

It was the second most powerful earthquake ever measured by

seismologists at a magnitude of 9.2 (the largest being the 1960 earthquake

in Chile). By comparison, the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 would have

measured 7.9, an energy equivalent of less than 2% of the Alaska quake.

Anchorage sustained great destruction or damage to many inadequately

engineered houses, buildings, and infrastructure (paved streets, sidewalks,

water and sewer mains, electrical systems, and other man-made

equipment), particularly in the several landslide zones along Knik Arm.


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Fissures and openings in the ground caused major structural

damage in many communities in the region, where homes, businesses

and considerable infrastructure were damaged or destroyed.

Property damage was estimated at over $300 million, $3.0 billion

in current terms. As far away as Kodiak, two hundred miles

southwest, the land rose by 30 feet.

The land near Girdwood and Portage dropped 8 feet and twenty

miles of the Seward Highway and adjacent rails sank below the high-

water mark of Turnagain Arm. Girdwood was relocated inland and

Portage was abandoned.

It took two years to raise and rebuild the highway, tracks and

bridges to pre-Earthquake standards.

The Good Friday Earthquake—1964


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Anchorage:

All America

City 1965


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Anchorage Fifty Years Ago

In June 1966 the Beatles had an unscheduled nine-hour stop in Anchorage, staying at the Westward

Hotel. Ringo said “Anchorage was like a cowboy town to us; it was really like a backwater. My only

great memory of Alaska is that at the airport they have a huge, magnificent white bear in a glass case.”


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Fifty Years Later


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President Obama in Anchorage, August 31, 2015


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POPULATION SHIFT IN ALASKA:


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Alaska in 1910—64,356 Alaska in 1920—55,036 Alaska in 1930—59,278 Alaska in 1940—72,524 Alaska in 1950—128,643 Alaska in 1960—226,167 Alaska today—742,295

Juneau in 1910—1,644 Juneau in 1920—3,058 Juneau in 1930—4,043 Juneau in 1940—5,729 Juneau in 1950—5,958 Juneau in 1960—6,797 Juneau today—31,275

Fairbanks in 1910—3,541 Fairbanks in 1920—1,155 Fairbanks in 1930—2,101 Fairbanks in 1940—3,455 Fairbanks in 1950—5,771 Fairbanks in 1960—13,311 Fairbanks today—31,535

Anchorage in 1910—none Anchorage in 1920—1,856 Anchorage in 1930—2,277 Anchorage in 1940—3,495 Anchorage in 1950—11,254 Anchorage in 1960—44,397 Anchorage today—298,610


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1—Oil Development/Alaska Permanent Fund

2—Alaska Native Claims Settlement

3—Alaska’s Parklands

4—Project 80’s

5—Exxon Valdez Disaster

6—Expanding Tourism

7—Military and Government

8—Public Education and Health Care

9—Focus on Charity and Giving

10—Diversity of Population




4—Project 80’s










4—Project 80’s







TEN ANCHORAGE THEMES How did Anchorage grow and prosper in the last Five Decades?


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A State Rich in Tradition and Culture


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A Community Rich in Tradition and Culture


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Denali

anchorage and its centennial · 2015-09-30 · anchorage centennial: 1915-2015 in just 100 years...

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