juneau (Nome, Skagway: for sale, homes, prices)

[ArcticState]

While Juneau is the official state capital of Alaska, there are actually more state employees who reside in the Anchorage area. Around 6,800 state employees work in Anchorage compared to around 3,800 in Juneau.

[Metlakatla]

It's like this. Anchorage barely existed at the time. It was just a little railroad center. Fairbanks was too far; people didn't jump on a jet in those days and in those days it wasn't much more than a mining community that most people looked upon as temporary.

Looking at how things are today I can see why it wouldn't make good sense to some people, but how things are today has no bearing on decisions made in a different time and a very different place.

Sitka was the original territorial capital.

Personally I would be very much against a capital move to Anchorage; they do quite a bit of state business there, though.

[ArcticState]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Personally I would be very much against a capital move to Anchorage

Ditto. It's considered a good idea to keep the political center of gravity away from the electoral core, keeps the interests separated... at least in theory it's supposed to work that way.

[ShipOfFools42]

^ Well, put that way, it makes sense for sure. The thing about Alaska is that it's so diverse that you couldn't possibly pick any single capital city that would accurately portray the entire state. I still think Fairbanks would be a great choice, just because the interior is representative of the extremes of the state.

[rf80412]

The built-up area is tiny, but I know that Juneau has what they call "out the road". Juneau's borders on paper make it almost as big as Rhode Island and Delaware put together.

I'd always assumed that the Tongass National Forest was the primary obstacle to development in the Southeast, as opposed to the terrain. While yes, it is more expensive, there are still things you can do to build on steep slopes if that's the only land you have. There's also no lack of experience with off-grid living in Alaska, which is what everyone living "out the road" does anyway.

[Metlakatla]

There's very little interest in moving the capital anymore. Personally, I don't think the state needs the expense.

Push to move capital from Juneau gets no momentum: Legislature | Alaska news at adn.com

Some of the remarks in the comment section are just flat out wrong, by the way.

Juneau was the first (white) town in Alaska; I don't think there was even so much as a tent on the ground of what is now Anchorage or Fairbanks when it was established.

[ArcticState]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Juneau was the first (white) town in Alaska

I think Kodiak (and possibly Wrangell) were settled before Juneau. Now whether or not they qualified as "towns" is debatable.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by ArcticState

I think Kodiak (and possibly Wrangell) were settled before Juneau. Now whether or not they qualified as "towns" is debatable.

They were both settled first (Wrangell as a military fort and Kodiak as a Russian settlement), but Juneau was the first to become an "organized town" after we, uh, "bought" it from Russia.

[dcarrot]

Originally Posted by rf80412

The built-up area is tiny, but I know that Juneau has what they call "out the road". Juneau's borders on paper make it almost as big as Rhode Island and Delaware put together.

I'd always assumed that the Tongass National Forest was the primary obstacle to development in the Southeast, as opposed to the terrain.

That would be true in any state with National Forests. You can't build your house on the Forest.

[rf80412]

Originally Posted by dcarrot

That would be true in any state with National Forests. You can't build your house on the Forest.

Then I assume that most construction activity in the Southeast would be things like additions and remodels. But then where did "out the road" come from? Were all those people living there before the National Forest was established?