This Week In Alaskan History: A mere three weeks after then President Dwight Eisenhower signed the proclamation which granted statehood to Alaska, the first Alaska State Legislature convened on January 26, 1959. Alaska’s First State Legislature Convened At the state’s first Legislature, Alaskan lawmakers took it upon themselves to not only organize a state government but pass the … [Read more...]
Robert W. Service
This Week In Alaskan History: Robert William Service was born on January 16, 1874 in Lancashire, England to a bank cashier and heiress. One of four children, Service’s parents sent him to live with his grandfather and three aunts in Scotland at the age of five. From these unlikely beginnings, Service eventually became the “Bard of the Yukon”. Service Sets Out For The Yukon Service … [Read more...]
This Week In Alaskan History: The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
This Week in Alaskan History: On September 19, 1903 the Weekly Fairbanks News was established. Today it’s known as the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. When C.W. “Bill” Snedden took over as the owner and publisher of the FDNM in 1950, the publication became instrumental in the Alaska statehood movement. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner’s Origins The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner began as the … [Read more...]
This Week In Alaskan History: The Phoenix
This week in Alaska History: On September 4, 1794 the first ship was built in Alaska. The Phoenix set sail from Resurrection Bay, where Seward now exists. It was the first ship launched on the northwestern Pacific Coast and sailed six times between Kodiak, Alaska and Okhotsk, Russia - carrying loads of fur over a span of four years. Alexander Baranof Arrives On Kodiak … [Read more...]
The George C. Thomas Memorial Library
This week in Alaskan History: The George C. Thomas Memorial Library was opened to the public on August 4, 1909. The library was turned over to the City of Fairbanks in 1942. The FNSB was created in 1964 and four years later the City of Fairbanks gave the Thomas Memorial Library to the Borough. George C. Thomas Becomes Aware of Fairbanks’ Lack of A Library Fairbanks came into being … [Read more...]
The Alaskan Cable System From Valdez to Seward
This week in Alaskan History: On July 31, 1905 the Signal Corps of the Army began laying extension of the submarine telegraph cable from Valdez to Seward at the head of Resurrection Bay. Congress Approves The First Cable Lines In Alaska After the discovery of gold at Cape Nome, a great influx of people descended upon Alaska in the late 1800s. Due to the this, the War Department … [Read more...]
