Digital Bob Archive

Some Notes Along the Way

The City of Juneau was so large by September, 1914, that two voting precincts were felt necessary. The Council named Second Street as the dividing line. Everything to the south was in Precinct 1; north of Second was Precinct No.2. The northern city limits were at Gold Creek.

The Sportsman's Barber Shop has long been a feature of downtown Juneau. In the good old mining days, Douglas had a Hard Rock Barber Shop, and the name had no musical connotation.

Answer to a query from the Veterans of Foreign Wars: The Moose Hall at First and Gastineau was built during the summer of 1914 and was formally opened on October 16 of that year. The Moose Lodge moved to the Cheney Building on South Franklin in 1947 and its former building is now occupied by the VFW.

Although it had previously had some activity here, the Salvation Army marked its entry into the local field on July 15, 1921, when it opened its barracks on the second floor of the Valentine Building. In Juneau for the organizational work were Staff Captain Jaynes, Adjutant Kerr, Captain Garnett and Lieut. Fidler from the Army's Alaska headquarters at Wrangell.

When Juneau schools, both grades and high school, reopened in 1914 after the summer vacation, there were 13 teachers in the system and the payroll was $1,700 a month. The one school building was overcrowded and some classes were in downtown store fronts. The School Board was having budget problems.

A question I am asked: Where did the Territorial Legislature meet before the present Capitol was built?

The First Legislature, 1913, in the Elks Hall, still standing.

The Second and Third Legislature, 1915, 1917, in the Goldstein Building, still standing although rebuilt after a fire.

Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Legislatures, 1919, 1921, 1923, in the Garside Building on the site now occupied by the Log Cabin.

Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Legislatures, 1925, 1927, 1929, in the Arctic Brotherhood Hall on Third Street, site of the Alaska Office Building.

Tenth Legislature, 1931, and all subsequent in the Federal and Territorial Building, now the State Capitol.

Is there still extant a copy of the script of the radio drama \"The Lady Who Came With the Taku\"? This \"fantasy dealing with a local Alaska legend\" played over KINY in 1938 with Tina Lepetich, Robert Satre, Ned Zenger, Lois Sandifer, Betty Bonnett and Roger Connor in the cast.