Biography - Bernard M. Behrends

Mr. and Mrs. B. M. Behrends, pioneer residents of Alaska and of Juneau. Bernard M. Behrends was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1862 and came to the United States with his parents in 1878. They settled at Nebraska City, Nebraska, where he worked on his father's farm and clerked in the country store. In 1884 he moved to California where he prospected, mined, and engaged in merchandising, reaching the position of store manager. In 1887 he came to Alaska, arriving at Sitka on May 22 on the sidewheel steamer Ancon. A few days later he went to work as clerk and bookkeeper at the Sitka Trading Company which was operated by John G. Brady, later Alaska's fifth governor. In December, 1887, Behrends came to Juneau as manager of the Juneau branch of the Sitka Trading Company, then located on the waterfront on the present site of Thomas Hardware Company. On October 25, 1889 at Sitkam he married Miss Virginia M. Pakle, Dr. Sheldon Jackson performing the ceremony. Miss Pakle was born in West Virginia on April 9, 1863, and arrived at Sitka in May 1886, as a teacher and missionary. She taught at the Sitka Training School, now Sheldon Jackson Community College and at the government school in Sitka until her marriage. Behrends continued as manager of the store at Juneau until the Sitka Trading Company closed it in April 1891. After a trip to the States, he rented space in the Dixon Building on the west side of Seward Street next to the present B.M. Behrends Bank Building and opened a small banking business which grew rapidly. In 1892 Behrends purchased the property on the southeast corner of Third and Seward, built his own store building and moved into it in November. For some time the bank had quarters in the store building an later it was moved to the adjoining building on Seward Street. The B.M. Behrends Mercantile Company was incorporated December 1903, and the B.M. Behrends Company on January 20,1904. In 114 a new building was erected for the bank, across the street from the store on the southwest corner of Third and Seward as a member of the first Juneau City Council in 1900 and again on the second Council in 1901. He was president of the Evergreen Cemetery Association and served several terms as City Treasurer. Both he and Mrs. Behrends were active in many civic affairs. In 1936 Mrs. Behrends became ill while on a trip through interior Alaska the following summer, was hospitalized at Cordova and Died there on August 12, 1936. Both were buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Juneau.

Behrends Avenue - a residential street in the Highlands Addition, northwestern part of Juneau, was named for Mr. and Mrs. B.M. Behrends.