History

The Anchorage, Alaska area was settled by Inuit people at least 5000 years ago.  The Inuit were displaced by Athabascan Dena’ina people, whose population was an estimated 5000 at first contact with Europeans in 1756.

The English explorer Captain James Cook is credited with first exploring and describing the Anchorage area in 1778 during his third voyage of discovery, followed by another English explorer, George Vancouver.  Vancouver renamed what Cook had mistaken for a river, ‘Turnagain Arm.’  Russion explorers settled the area starting in 1784 and Russian trading activity continued over the next hundred years.  In 1867, due to problems in Russia, Russian America was sold to the US and in 1868 the Alaska Commercial Company began operating trading stations along Cook Inlet.  Between then and the start of Alaska Railroad construction in 1915, goldmining ensured a steady stream of new inhabitants to the area.

Ship Creek Landing was the headquarters for the building of the Alaska Railroad, and a tent city of over 2000 people sprang up at the mouth of Ship Creek.  In July of 1915, over 600 lots were sold in the Anchorage townsite auction.  The name ‘Anchorage’ came from an old dry-docked steamship used as a hardware and clothing store, and despite opposition from some residents the name was formalized by the US Post Office.  The city of Anchorage was incorporated on November 23, 1920.

The population and economy of Anchorage has continued to expand over the years since the building of the railroad with colonists in the Matanuska Valley after WW1, military expansion from the 1940s on, the development of the oil and gas industry and pipeline building, and the growth of the international airport and air freight. 

A significant event in the history of Anchorage was the Good Friday Earthquake of 1964. It was the largest earthquake ever recorded in North America and the epicentre was only 80 miles from Anchorage, causing much damage to the city.