Located in Southcentral Alaska on the shores of Cook Inlet, the Municipality of Anchorage is a unique urban environment situated in the heart of the wilderness. According to anthropological research using the Beluga Point Site located just a short distance from downtown Anchorage, human occupation of the Anchorage area occurred in three waves, the first in 3,000 BC, the second in 2,000 BC, and the third and last at the start of the new millennium. By the time of first contact with European cultures in 1756, the Eskimo people who had originally settled the area had been displaced by the Athabaskan Dena’ina people. This displacement has been estimated as early as 500 AD and as late as 1650 AD. It is estimated that more than 5,000 Dena’ina inhabited the Southcentral area at first contact with Europeans.

Russian explorers had established themselves in southern Alaska by 1784, but the English explorer Captain James Cook is credited with first exploring and describing the Anchorage area in 1778 during his third voyage of discovery. Mistaking one of the arms of the inlet for a river, Cook named it “River Turnagain”, later renamed Turnagain Arm by a subsequent British explorer, George Vancouver. During the next hundred years Russian trading activity increased in the Inlet, and Russian cultural influence increased. Then in 1867 problems at home forced the sale of Russian America to the United States for a sum of $7,200,000. Beginning in 1868 the Alaska Commercial Company began operating dozens of stations along Cook Inlet, and constituted the strongest organizational entity in the area. Until the advent of the Alaska Railroad, gold-mining activity throughout the Turnagain Arm and Kenai Peninsula promoted a steady influx of new inhabitants to Southcentral Alaska.

In 1915 President Woodrow Wilson authorized funds for the construction of the Alaska Railroad. Ship Creek Landing was selected as the headquarters of this effort, coordinated by the fledgling Alaskan Engineering Commission. A “Tent City” sprang up in the wilderness at the mouth of Ship Creek, and soon swelled to a population of over 2,000. On July 9, 1915, the Anchorage townsite auction was held, and over 600 lots in a fixed grid were sold for approximately $150,000. Although the area had been known by various names, in this same year the U.S. Post Office Department formalized the use of the name “Anchorage,” and despite some protests the name stuck.

Between 1915 and 1920 the federal A.E.C. maintained management responsibilities for the townsite of Anchorage, and during this time water lines were laid, a power plant was established , a rudimentary telephone system installed, and a sewer system was started. However, by 1920 pressure by local citizenry resulted in an election which led to the incorporation of Anchorage on November 23, 1920. The most significant event in the twenties was certainly the completion of the Alaska Railroad in 1923, which culminated in the first visit by a President to the Alaska Territory. On July 15, 1923, President Warren G. Harding drove the ceremonial golden spike to commemorate the completion. Throughout the twenties the railroad continued to be the mainstay of Anchorage’s economy.

During the thirties Anchorage rebounded from the loss of population and industry it had suffered during World War I. Air transportation became increasingly important to the welfare of the community. The original “Park Strip” landing field was replaced in 1930 by a new facility, Merrill Field, which had a beacon and a landing tower. In a few short years, Merrill Field became one of the busiest centers of civilian aircraft activity in the United States, a distinction which it still merits today. The local economy was also given a temporary boost by the influx of “colonists” sent to the Matanuska Valley by the Federal Relief Administration. Anchorage, as the base city for the Matanuska Valley, profited from the resources which were funneled through it in order to develop the colony.

The arrival of troops to Anchorage in 1940 marked a decade of growth based on military expansion for Anchorage. During the beginning of the decade, military construction doubled the population of the town and provided a boost to the local economy. By the outbreak of World War II the threat of Japanese invasion prompted continued expansion of military personnel and aircraft, and after World War II the pressures of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union ensured a continued heavy military investment in the Anchorage area.

The influx of defense spending during the 1950’s had a beneficial effect on both Anchorage’s population and business community. Between 1940 and 1951, Anchorage’s population expanded exponentially from 3,000 to 47,000, and so did the cost of living. The “Boom Town” of Anchorage also experienced a unfortunate rise in crime during this tumultuous growth period, a problem the city would fight for decades. The long-awaited completion of the road between Seward and Anchorage along the Turnagain Arm was completed in the early 1950’s by the Alaska Road Commission, opening the Kenai Peninsula to motor vehicle traffic.

 Crime in Anchorage (2001):

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Other public-use airports nearest to Anchorage:

Other colleges/universities with over 2000 students near Anchorage:

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