National Register of Historic Places listings in Ketchikan
Gateway Borough, Alaska
Source: Wikipedia
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Alaska Totems
Date Listed: June 21, 1971
Location: Between Park Avenue and Deermount Avenue
Town: Ketchikan
Coordinates 55°20'33?N 131°38'03?W
Collection size 33 totem poles
Director Lacey Gilbo Simpson
Description:
The Heritage Center houses one of the world's largest
collections of unrestored 19th century totem poles. The poles
were recovered from uninhabited Tlingit settlements on Village
Island and Tongass Island, south of Ketchikan, as well as from
the Haida village of Old Kasaan. The Center was founded in
1976 to preserve these totems and act as a cultural center.
Sixteen of the museum's thirty-three totem poles are on
permanent display, although the rest of the collection is
available for research purposes.
The Center also exhibits other Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian
artifacts and art pieces, including work by world-famous
Tlingit carver Nathan Jackson, and renowned Haida weaver
Delores Churchill. In addition to functioning as a museum, the
Totem Heritage Center preserves and promotes the traditional
arts and crafts of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples
through a nationally-recognized program of art classes and
other activities. Classes are held throughout the year, and
the museum is open to visitors year-round, with extended hours
during the summer.
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Burkhart-Dibrell House
Date Listed: September 8, 1982
Location: 500 Main Street
Town: Ketchikan
Coordinates 55°20'38?N 131°38'54?W
Area less than one acre
Built 1904
Built by H.Z. Burkhart
Architectural style Queen Anne
NRHP Reference # 82004902
AHRS # KET-111
Description:
This three story wood frame house was built in 1904 by H. Z.
Burkart, the founder of Ketchikan Spruce Mills, and is the
only significant surviving Queen Anne style house in
Ketchikan. It occupies a prominent position at the head of
Main Street, and has long been a local landmark. In 1916, the
house was purchased by Captain Walter Dibrell, Superintendent
of Lighthouses for all of Alaska. The house's most prominent
feature is its turret with conical roof and gold spire.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chief Kashakes House
Date Listed: August 6, 2014
Location: Mile 2.5 of South Tongass Highway
Town: Saxman
Coordinates 55°19'5?N 131°35'49?W
Area less than one acre
Built 1895
NRHP Reference # 93000338
AHRS # KET-343
Added to NRHP April 26, 1993
Description:
The Chief Kashakes House, also known as the Eagle Tail House
and Chief Kah-Shakes House, is a historic Tlingit clan house
in Saxman, Alaska. Built in 1895 using balloon framing, the
two story wood frame structure was the first structure built
in Saxman, and is the only surviving clan house of its type
there. It has a hip roof, and is clad in shiplap siding. The
front originally had a porch extending across the full width,
but this has been reduced to just the central portion. Three
totem poles flank the building, two eagle-topped poles to the
right and a beaver pole to the left. An old Russian cannon
stands near the house.
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Clover Pass School
Date Listed: August 22, 2005
Location: Potter Road off Knudson Cove Road
Town: Clover Pass
Coordinates 55°28'22?N 131°47'32?W
Area 2.16 acres (0.87 ha)
Built 1947
Architectural style One-room school
NRHP Reference # 05000898
AHRS # KET-000756
Added to NRHP August 22, 2005
Description:
The Clover Pass School is a historic school building in
Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska. It is located 16 miles (26
km) north of the city of Ketchikan, at the junction of Potter
and Knudson Cove Roads. The small one-room wood-frame
structure was built in 1947, and was used as a school until
1961. It thereafter was used as a local community center, and
is now owned by Historic Ketchikan (although the land on which
it sits is owned by the federal government and administered by
the United States Bureau of Land Management)
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Creek Street Historic District
Date Listed: August 6, 2014
Location: Creek Street, Married Man's Trail and Totem Way
Town: Ketchikan
Description:
Creek Street is a historic area of Ketchikan, Alaska. The
street is actually a boardwalk mounted in stilts on a high
slope on the east side of Ketchikan Creek, east of the city's
downtown.
Creek Street is infamous as being Ketchikan's red light
district, roughly between 1903 and 1954, and some of its
attractions are commemorations of this past. Its origins lie
in a 1903 city ordinance banishing brothels from the city
center to the "Indian Town" area on the east side of the
creek, and it operated until the brothels were outlawed and
shut down in 1954. Numerous houses of prostitution sprang up
on this difficult terrain, supported by wooden stilts. Famous
among them is The Star, which was one of the largest of these
businesses, and Dolly's House, which is now a museum. Winding
into the hills above Creek Street is Married Man's Way, a
trail used by patrons of the brothels to escape raids.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
First Lutheran Church
Date Listed: May 18, 1987
Location: 1200 Tongass Avenue
Town: Ketchikan
Coordinates 55°20'43?N 131°39'28?WCoordinates:
55°20'43?N 131°39'28?W
Area less than one acre
Built 1930
Built by Carl Foss
Architect W.G. Brust
Architectural style Late Gothic Revival
NRHP Reference # 87000716
AHRS # KET-141
Description:
The First Lutheran Church in Ketchikan, Alaska is a historic
church at 1200 Tongass Avenue. It was designed by architect
W.G. Brust of Seattle and was built in 1930 by Ketchikan local
builder Carl Foss. It is a two-story wood frame structure,
with a three-story tower at its southwest corner. The windows
along the sides are rectangular sash windows on the first
level, and narrow Gothic lancet windows on the taller second
level grouped in threes in rectangular openings. The main
entry is in through an arched opening in the tower, with the
door topped by a multi-light transom window.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gilmore Building
Date Listed: September 27, 1989
Location: 326 Front Street
Town: Ketchikan
Coordinates 55°20'32?N 131°38'52?W
Area less than one acre
Built 1927
Built by Hoard Engineering Company
Architect C. Frank Mahon
NRHP Reference # 89001415
AHRS # KET-146
Added to NRHP September 27, 1989
Description:
The Gilmore Building, also known as the Gilmore Hotel, is a
historic commercial building at 326 Front Street in Ketchikan,
Alaska. It is a three story masonry building located adjacent
to Ketchikan City Hall, and was built in 1926-27 by P. J.
Gilmore, Sr. to meet growing demand in the growing community
for retail space and hotel rooms. The build is in the shape of
a reversed L, whose base lies along Front Street, and includes
three commercial storefronts. The upper floors are populated
with hotel rooms.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic
Places in 1989. It is one of the only buildings in the city to
survive from the 1920s.
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Guard Island Lighthouse
Date Listed: January 14, 2004
Location: On Guard Island, at the northern end of Tongass
Narrows, about 9.6 miles northwest of Ketchikan
Town: Ketchikan
Area 10.4 acres
Architect J.T. Elliot
Architectural style Moderne
MPS Light Stations of the United States MPS
NRHP Reference # 03001378
AHRS # KET-00025
Added to NRHP January 14, 2004
Heritage National Register Historic District
Location: Guard Island, Tongass Narrows entrance, Clarence
Strait, Alaska
Coordinates 55°26'46?N 131°52'52?W
Year first constructed 1904 (first)
Year first lit 1924 (current)
Automated 1969
Foundation Concrete
Construction Reinforced concrete
Tower shape Square parallelepiped tower with balcony and
lantern on oil house
Markings / pattern White tower, black lantern
Height 30 feet
Focal height 74 feet
Original lens Fourth Order Fresnel lens
Range 17 nautical miles (20 mi)
Characteristic Fl W 10s.
emergency light (Fl W 6s.) of reduced intensity when main
light is extinguished.
Admiralty number G6046
ARLHS number ALK-008
USCG number 6-22300
Managing agent
United States Coast Guard
Description:
The Guard Island Light is a lighthouse on a small island near
the entrance to the Tongass Narrows, in Clarence Strait in
southeastern Alaska. The western entrance to the Behm Canal
also lies nearby.
The lighthouse location was prioritized sixth in a 1901 study
of 15 Alaska proposed sites. It would assist shipping along
Southeast Alaska's Inside Passage, at the north end of the
Tongass Narrows, "one of the more difficult passages along the
route" of Klondike Gold Rush-related shipping to Juneau and to
Skagway.
Construction of the Guard Island Lighthouse began in the
summer of 1903 and was completed by September 1904. The
34-foot (10 m) wooden tower housed a fourth order Fresnel lens
that produced a fixed white light. However, the wood used for
Guard Island Light Station, as well as for several other
Alaskan lighthouses, soon deteriorated in the harsh weather
conditions. By the 1920s, all the lighthouses except Eldred
Rock were falling apart, and in 1922, Congress authorized the
reconstruction of Guard Island Light. In 1924, the dilapidated
light tower was replaced with a new single-story rectangular
tower of reinforced concrete. The station was automated by the
Coast Guard in 1969.
T
he lighthouse was listed as a historic district on the
National Register of Historic Places in 2004. The listing
includes one contributing building, one contributing
structure, and one contributing site on a 10.4-acre area.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ketchikan Federal Building
Date Listed: April 28, 2006
Location: 648 Mission Street
Town: Ketchikan
Coordinates 55°20'30?N 131°38'34?W
Area 1.74 acres
Built 1937
Built by J. B. Warrack Construction Company
Architect Garfield, Stanley-Brown, Harris and Robinson
Architectural style Modern Movement
NRHP Reference # 05000897
AHRS # KET-00466
Added to NRHP April 28, 2006
Description:
The Ketchikan Federal Building is a courthouse of the United
States District Court for the District of Alaska, located at
648 Mission Street in Ketchikan, Alaska. It was completed in
1938, and was listed on the National Register of Historic
Places on April 28, 2006. The building's primary tenant is the
United States Forest Service Tongass National Forest
Supervisor's Office, which occupies space on the first,
second, third, fourth and sixth floors. The fifth floor houses
a courtroom and related support offices, while the first floor
also houses an office of the United States Customs and Border
Protection.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic
Places in 2006
The beginnings of the Ketchikan Federal Building can be traced
back to 1924 when the City of Ketchikan was constructing a new
school house and little space was left on the school lot for
playgrounds. The U.S. Courthouse, constructed in 1905, was
located directly across the street and was apparently in
"disrepair, inadequate for present needs, and unfavorably
located in a residence section with its jail in close
proximity to the school". The Ketchikan Women's Council
developed a proposal where the City of Ketchikan agreed to
donate a site for a new federal building, centrally located in
the business district of the city, in exchange for the
courthouse site to be used for a school playground.
On July 16, 1924 the Common Council of the City of Ketchikan
adopted a memorandum to petition the federal government to
make "ample appropriations" for the erection of a new
courthouse or federal building. Copies of the memorandum were
sent to the office of the Attorney General, the Treasury
Department and the Committee on Territories in both the House
and the Senate. The ground-breaking ceremonies on March 3,
1937 marked the end of years of continuous struggle by local
agencies to obtain a new federal building. The building was
designed by the Cleveland architectural firm of Garfield,
Stanley-Brown, Harris and Robinson. The J.B. Warrack
Construction Company was awarded the building contract of
$320,000, not including the elevator, fixtures and
furnishings.
The building officially opened on March 5, 1938, a year and a
day after ground was first broken. Five times larger than the
average federal building in cities of a population of 5,000,
the building originally housed 11 governmental departments,
services and bureaus. The post office occupied the entire
L-shaped first floor, with service and lock box lobbies
spanning the length of each wing. The district courtroom,
offices and jail cells were located on the fifth floor.
In the 1950s, the movie Cry Vengeance was filmed in the
Ketchikan Federal Building and the original layout of the
first floor lobby can be seen in some of the scenes.
General Services Administration acquired ownership of the
building in 1976, after postal services were relocated to a
new facility. In 1977-1978, GSA totally remodeled the building
to create modern office space; and additional minor remodeling
has occurred since. Remodeling has removed much of the
historical significance on the 1st and 4th floors, the old
jail space in the southern half of the 5th floor, and much of
the private office space on the 2nd and 3rd floors. Intact
historical interior elements include window trim; some doors,
frames and trim; the entry vestibule floor and wall finishes;
the courtroom and adjacent lobby, judge's chambers, and clerk
of court's office; the elevator doors; and the northeast
stair.
Of interest in the former jail cell area are four murals
painted directly on the concrete block walls. These murals are
believed to have been transferred from magazines and painted
by prisoners who were members of the Tlingit and Haida Alaskan
Indian tribes in the early 1980s. The murals are protected by
Plexiglas panels and available for limited viewing, located in
a private office.
The exterior of the original building is largely intact,
except where a new two-story wing was added at the west side
of the south end of the original six-story tower. Windows were
removed and openings infilled at a new stair added at the
south end of the tower, and an insensitively-designed bump-out
housing the stair's exterior vestibule was added at the first
floor on the south end of the tower. Replacement windows,
although not exact duplicates of the original design, match
the original material (wood) and proportions. The exterior
paint colors were originally white; the current pink and beige
colors are not original.
Local newspaper articles at the time of its dedication
described the Federal Building in Ketchikan, Alaska as "inside
and out, the structure is plain and practical." The six-story,
L-shaped building was constructed of cast-in-place reinforced
concrete on a structural foundation of driven steel piles with
concrete caps. Designed by the Cleveland architectural firm of
Garfield, Stanley-Brown, Harris and Robinson; the plain,
box-like exterior, flat roofs, and lack of ornament identify
the Federal Building as International Style architecture.
Pioneered by European architects shortly after World War I,
the International Style rejected the ornate designs of
previous eras, turning instead to a streamlined, modern
approach for buildings. Walls were flat planes with no
decorative treatment and windows were placed flush to the
exterior. This style became widely accepted in the United
States in the mid-1930s.
The building also represents a regional construction type and
style known within Federal organizations as New Deal Concrete.
A number of federal buildings built under Roosevelt's New Deal
plan exhibit similar characteristics.
The Federal Building is located at the southwest corner of
Mission and Stedman Streets in downtown Ketchikan. The site is
bounded by concrete sidewalks and grassy lawns on the
northwest and northeast sides, and by paved concrete parking
lots on the southeast and southwest. The northwest lawn
features a metal flagpole with a concrete base, one of two
originals. After almost four decades of grass bounded by chain
link fencing, in the mid 1970s, landscaping was added and the
fencing removed at the northeast and northwest lawns at
Stedman and Mission Streets. The original steps at the main
entry have been altered by the addition of a functional but
insensitively designed off-center ramp with painted
free-standing metal handrails.
The L-shaped building consists of a long and narrow six-story
tower stretching along Stedman Street to the northeast, with
the narrow end of the tower and a one-story wing facing
Mission Street to the northwest. The inside of the "L"
originally included a basement level boiler room. While the
main blocks of the building have remained intact; in 1954, a
one- and two-story wing was added to the southeast side, east
end of the main tower, adjacent to the boiler room. This
addition has metal panel and stucco exterior finishes.
The original building sits on a slightly projecting concrete
base. The concrete wall surfaces have a rubbed finish and are
smooth except for continuous horizontal reveals at the heights
of window sills and heads on each floor level. The building is
terminated by a slightly recessed continuous concrete parapet
cap. The exterior elevations are penetrated by grouped window
openings which align vertically and horizontally, from
floor-to-floor. The original horizontal-light, two-over-two,
wood double-hung sash windows, some with matching transoms,
have been replaced by new, single-light, one-over-one, wood
units with operable awning sash below fixed upper sash(es).
The building was painted pink in 1990, at the request of the
newly built Cape Fox Lodge; the color was decided upon by a
local committee. The exterior concrete and paint is
deteriorated. A study has recently been completed, identifying
deficiencies and recommendations for improvement.
The main building entrance is centered on the narrow northwest
face of the six-story tower. The main entry doors are framed
by a slightly protruding concrete surround that matches the
base element. Two wrought-iron coach-lights (not original) are
located at the sides of the entry doors and original cast
bronze letters reading "FEDERAL BUILDING KETCHIKAN ALASKA" are
located directly above the doors. The commemorative granite
corner stone is located near the east end of the north wall.
The original interior of the building continued the simple and
practical theme. The most significant spaces were the postal
lobbies on the first floor, and the courtroom and lobby on the
fifth floor. Due to substantial renovation work in the 1970s,
only the fifth floor courtroom and its lobby retains their
original integrity.
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Ketchikan Ranger House
Date Listed: July 16, 1987
Location: 309 Gorge Street
Town: Ketchikan
Coordinates 55°20'47?N 131°39'34?W
Area 0.15 acres (0.061 ha)
Built 1916
Architect USDA Forest Service
Architectural style Vernacular Victorian
NRHP Reference # 87000645
AHRS # KET-275
Description:
The Ketchikan Ranger House at 309 Gorge Street in Ketchikan,
Alaska was built in 1916 in the residential Captain's Hill
district of Ketchikan. Designed by USDA Forest Service in
"Vernacular Victorian" style, it housed the U.S. Forest
Service's district rangers until 1978. The 1-1/2 story frame
house has remained essentially unaltered from its original
construction. It was built for $650 to serve the first forest
ranger for the state of Alaska.
The house was originally built on a post-and-piling
foundation, with a partial concrete foundation added at a
later date when a basement was excavated. The gable roof runs
from the front to the back, with two hipped dormers on the
east side and one shed dormer on the west side. The front door
is on the uphill side, offset to one side on a partly enclosed
porch. Most of the house's original woodwork, finishes and
hardware have survived.
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Mary Island Light Station
Date Listed: July 8, 2005
Location: Northeastern end of Mary Island, between
Revillagigedo Channel and Felice Strait, about 6.4 miles south
of Revillagigedo Island
Town: Ketchikan
Area 9.8 acres (4.0 ha)
Built 1937
Architect US Lighthouse Service; D.A. Chase; Edwin Laird
Architectural style Moderne
MPS Light Stations of the United States MPS
NRHP Reference # 05000645
AHRS # KET-024
Added to NRHP July 8, 2005
Heritage place listed on the National Register of Historic
Places
Location Mary Island
Revillagigedo Channel
Alaska
United States
Coordinates 55°5'56?N 131°10'58?W
Year first constructed 1903 (first)
Year first lit 1937 (current)
Automated 1969
Foundation concrete
Construction reinforced concrete
Tower shape square parallelepiped tower
Markings / pattern art deco architecture
white tower
Height 61 feet (19 m)
Focal height 76 feet (23 m)
Original lens Fourth order Fresnel lens
Current lens 250 mm lens
Range 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi)
Characteristic Fl W 6s.
obscured from 341° to 150°.
Admiralty number G6006
ARLHS number ALK-009
USCG number 6-21940
Managing agent
United States Coast Guard
Description:
The Mary Island Light Station is a lighthouse located on the
northeastern part of Mary Island in southeastern Alaska
Mary Island Light Station was opened in 1903, and was one of a
series of staffed lights established by the U.S. Government to
guide ships through the treacherous waters of Southeast
Alaska's Inside Passage. In 1937, a concrete lighthouse and
fog signal building replaced the original wood tower. Situated
behind the light were two lightkeeper houses which housed the
Coast Guard Lightkeepers. One of the houses burned down in
1965(?); the other house was moved off the island to nearby
Ketchikan, Alaska.
In 1969 the station was automated and the radio beacon was
removed. No other buildings and structures at the station
stand today, other than an outhouse.
Actually, the northern of the two keepers dwellings was moved
in 1964. The southern dwelling was used by the 4 man crew
until the station was decommissioned in 1969, and in 1970 the
dwelling was moved.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as
Mary Island Light Station in 2005.
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Saxman Totem Park
Date Listed: August 7, 1979
Location: 2660 Killer Whale Avenue
Town: Saxman
Coordinates 55°19'11?N 131°35'47?W
Area 5 acres (2.0 ha)
Built 1939
NRHP Reference # 79003758
AHRS # KET-060
Description:
Saxman Totem Park is a public park in the city of Saxman,
Alaska, just south of Ketchikan in southeastern Alaska. The
park is home to a collection of totem poles, some of which are
old poles relocated to this place from abandoned Tlingit
villages in the region, or were reconstructed by skilled
Tlingit carvers under the auspices of the Civilian
Conservation Corps in the 1930s. The poles originated in the
communities of Old Tongass, Cat Island, Village Island,
Pennock Island, and Fox Village. One of the carved items
recovered from abandoned villages is a marble statue of a
grizzly bear. The park was listed on the National Register of
Historic Places in 1979.
List of totem poles, monuments and house posts
Sun and Raven
Raven and Frog
Tired-Wolf House Posts
The Beaver Posts
The Blackfish Pole
Klawak Blackfish Fin
The Frog Tree
Grizzly Bear Monument
Kats and his Bear Wife
The Lincoln Totem
Secretary of State Pole
Raven Pole
The Grizzly Bear Post
The Loon Tree
Owl Memorial
Pointing Figure
Giant Rock Oyster Pole
Memorials of Eagle Tail House
Dogfish Totem
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This page was last updated November 14, 2017.