Russian explorers had founded themselves in southern Alaska by 1784, but English explorer Captain James Cook is credited with very first exploring and explaining the Anchorage area within 1778 during his third voyage of discovery.
During the next hundred years Russian trading activity and cultural influence increased. Then 1867 problems at home compelled the sale of Russian America on the United States for an amount of $7,200,000.
During 1915 President Woodrow Wilson authorized funds for the construction of the Alaska Railroad. Ship Creek Landing in Anchorage was chosen as the headquarters of this effort. Soon a “Tent City” sprang up at the mouth of Ship Creek and also a population quickly swelled to around 2,000.
Would-be entrepreneurs flocked to this bustling frontier town, and brought with them almost everything necessary to develop a city. A popular hardware and clothing store, “The Anchorage,” was actually an old dry-docked steamship name “Berth.”
Even though the area had been known by several names, the U.S. Post Office Department formalized the effective use of the name “Anchorage,” and regardless of some protests the name stuck.
Anchorage was incorporated on November 23, 1920. Alaska attained statehood in 1959. On March 27th, 1964, a natural devastation of incredible proportions struck Anchorage and South-central Alaska: the Good Friday earthquake. This particular earthquake measured 9.2 on the Richter scale; the largest ever before recorded within North America and, because Anchorage lay only 80 miles from the epicenter damage to structures ran to the hundreds of millions of dollars.
The decade of the eighties was a time of growth, thanks to a flood of North Slope oil revenue on the state treasury. Capital projects as well as a hostile beautification program, coupled with far-sighted community planning, significantly increased infrastructure and quality of life. By the beginning of the 1990’s Anchorage could feature 259 miles of maintained trails. Hilltop Ski Area was established in 1984, which along with the Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood and Alpenglow Ski Area gave residents three fully operational skiing areas. Tourism and recreational activities was fast becoming a mainstay of the modern Anchorage economy, which has continued to the present day.
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