Historic Ketchikan

This weekend you can make an impact! Join our community in National Historic Marker Weekend!

Want to learn more about how to participate in National Historic Marker Weekend (4/24-4/26)? Check out this helpful video from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation

National Historic Marker Day Cleaning Guide Watch this step-by-step video guide about how to properly clean historic markers in preparation for our third annual National Historic Marker Day!You’re invi...

You might recognize the Yates Memorial Hospital in this featured photo from the Tongass Historical Museum!

Fun bit of Alaska trivia: Which Ketchikan street became the first paved road in Alaska in 1923?

Plank Road Contributes to Town Growth

In 1902, downtown property owners paid 25 cents a foot towards the construction of a 10-foot-wide plank sidewalk for pedestrians from the corner of Grant Street and Front Street around K**b Hill to Newtown, a total length of less than a quarter of a mile. Today, the path no longer exists, but if it did it would run roughly on the outside of the tunnel. A few months after the sidewalk was built, Ketchikan’s first horse and wagon was hired to carry goods by Mike Connell and Fred Billiard’s draying business. As Ketchikan grew so did the amount of plank sidewalks and “roads.”

A photograph of an early automobile on Main Street, taken around 1911, is this month’s featured artifact. Governor Wilfred B. Hoggatt is shown driving a 1911 International Harvester Co (IHC) car. Among the passengers are businessman and inventor of the floating fish trap, J.R. Heckman, and his wife, Marie, and George Rounsefell of Fidalgo Island Packing Company. Standing next to the car is Dr. John Myers in front of his practice.

Newt Casperson, owner of Ketchikan Carbonation Works, brought a passenger automobile to town in 1913. The only cleared path suitable for the car was from one cannery in Newtown to another in “Indian Town,” or the area south of Ketchikan Creek. Using the original unpaved 10-foot-wide plank sidewalk turned road, the car ran day and night as a taxi. By fall of 1913, Newtown was connected by a viable road to the west end of town. Within a few years, a dirt road extended south to Herring Cove and north to Ward Cove, opening up numerous commercial opportunities and establishing a need for the Fire Department’s Pumper Truck #1. Front Street became the first paved road in Alaska in 1923.

Explore more featured artifacts: http://www.ketchikanmuseums.org/virtual_exhibit/vex9_artifact_of_the_month/toc.htm

Object ID #: THS 62.4.1.41

Built in 1905 as a clergy house for the Episcopal Mission, Yates Memorial Hospital in Ketchikan, Alaska was re-purposed in 1909 as a 12-bed hospital during the town's boom years. Under very difficult conditions, many dedicated and determined women worked tirelessly as nurses, to care for the sick and injured there.

After being vacant for 15 years, the National Trust listed it as one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2020, bringing national attention to its uncertain future,

This past January however the preservation of this structure took a great leap forward when Historic Ketchikan completed its purchase of the building, opening the way for the nonprofit to begin restoration efforts. With some initial grants in hand, HKI is seeking the public’s support to keep the momentum going. The hope is for it to contribute to the broader revitalization efforts in Ketchikan.

Photo courtesy Yates Memorial Hospital/Historic Ketchikan

Nominations are due April 17th!

To increase public awareness of endangered historic properties and advocate for our state’s historic buildings and resources, Preservation Alaska announces Alaska’s Ten Most Endangered Historic Properties during National Historic Preservation Month each May. The properties on this list are nominated by individuals and organizations throughout the state. This list is a call for action from all stakeholders and is not a compendium of endangered historic places in our state. The Ten Most Endangered Historic Properties was established in 1991.

The 10 Most Endangered Historic Places program spotlights irreplaceable historic, architectural, cultural, and archeological resources in Alaska that are in imminent danger of being lost. The act of listing these resources acknowledges their importance to the heritage of Alaska and draws attention to the predicaments that endanger their survival and the survival of historic resources statewide. The list, generated from nominations by the public, aims to attract new perspectives and ideas to sites in desperate need of creative solutions.

Nominations are due April 17, 2026

Forms located at: https://alaskapreservation.org/

If you’ve noticed scaffolding and fresh activity on Mission Street, you’re not imagining it. The 120-year-old Yates Building is officially in its next chapter!

Huge thanks to Dave Kiffer for the thoughtful write-up in the Ketchikan Daily News on Historic Ketchikan’s recent purchase of the Yates and the exterior renovation work now underway. We love seeing this story in print, and we hope you will too.

📬 Grab a copy of this weekend’s paper, give it a read, and share in the excitement. This long-planned restoration is a big milestone for downtown preservation and for the future of heritage tourism in Ketchikan.

More to come 🚧 we’re just getting started.

Historic Ketchikan is thrilled to be moving forward in our work on the Yates Memorial Hospital, once listed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.

Historic Ketchikan purchases Yates Memorial Hospital 👉 https://tinyurl.com/pu929k4n

UAS Ketchikan Campus Library's feature display is right up our alley (or historic district)🤓! Learn more about the architecture around you everyday and those features that define the character of our historic buildings. 📚📖

Congratulations First Bank!! We love celebrating the historic buildings that make up our Downtown Historic District! Curious and want to learn more about what other buildings make up and contribute to our downtown?? Check out the Historic Survey on our website: https://www.historicketchikan.org/publications/