A book of historical photographs showing Anchorage’s humble beginnings and its growth to becoming Alaska’s largest city hit bookstore shelves this summer.
“Anchorage” is part of the Images of America series, and its first photos are actually from before most settlers moved into the area, which is the ancestral homeland of the Dena’ina Athabascan people. But as the city became more established, it expanded from railroad camp, to military community, pipeline construction boomtown and, eventually, a sea- and air-shipping hub.
University of Alaska Anchorage history professor Ian Hartman compiled the photos, most of which come from the Anchorage Museum’s collections, in conjunction with the Cook Inlet Historical Society. And while the city has seen a lot of change, Hartman says Anchorage’s relatively short history made the project easier…