Juneau Borough, Alaska

Juneau Borough History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

Etymology - Origin of Borough Name

Juneau was named after gold prospector Joe Juneau.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History of Juneau City and Borough, Alaska

Before the time of European settlement in the Americas, the Gastineau Channel was a favorite fishing ground for local Tlingit Indians, known then as the Auke and Taku tribes, who had lived in the area for thousands of years. The native cultures are rich with artistic traditions including carving, weaving, orating, singing and dancing. Juneau has become a major social center for the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian of Southeast Alaska.

Around 1880, Sitka mining engineer George Pilz offered a reward to any local chief who could lead him to the gold-bearing ore. Chief Kowee arrived with some ore and prospectors were sent to investigate. On their first trip, to Gold Creek, they found little of interest. However, at Chief Kowee's urging Pilz sent Joe Juneau and Richard Harris back to the Gastineau Channel, directing them to Snow Slide Gulch (the head of Gold Creek) where they found nuggets about the size of small peas.

On October 18, 1880 the two men marked on a 160 acre town site where soon a mining camp appeared. Within one year time the camp became a small town, the first to be founded after Alaska's purchase by the United States.

The town was originally called Harrisburg, after Richard Harris; some time later its name was changed to Rockwell. Around 1881 the miners met and renamed the town Juneau, after Joe Juneau. In 1906, after the diminution of the whaling and trade, Sitka, the original capital of Alaska, declined in importance and the seat of government was moved to Juneau.

Around 1954, a measure was passed to move the state's capital north in order to locate it closer to the state's population center. A provision that required the new capital to be located at least 30 miles from the cities of Anchorage and Fairbanks, to prevent them from having undue influence over the rest of the state, stalled the relocation process to the point that in the end Juneau remained the capital. In the 1970s, serious plans were made to move the capital to a site near Willow, a town on the Parks Highway about 70 miles north of Anchorage. However, these plans never went very far.

Several ballot initiatives have been held on the issue of moving the capital. The first such proposal was on the ballot of the state's first general election ballot: were the voters chose not to move the capital from Juneau to the Cook Inlet-Railbelt area. In 1974 referendum actually passed, which led to the choice of the Willow site. This project died after the electorate voted against funding it (at a cost of billions of dollars) in 1978 and in1982. However, the Willow plan was partially revived in 2002 with a proposal to move the legislative branch to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough (which includes Willow): this initiative lost by a 2-1 margin.

Alaska was granted it's statehood in 1959, Juneau grew with the growth of state government. Growth accelerated remarkably after the construction of the Alaska Pipeline in 1977, state budget flush with oil revenues; Juneau expanded predictably with both increased government and tourism jobs. That growth slowed considerably in the 1990s, and the state demographer expects the borough to grow very slowly over the next twenty years.

A consolidation of the City of Douglas, the City of Juneau, and the Greater Juneau Borough in 1970 made present-day Juneau the country's largest city in terms of land area, larger than the State of Delaware. It no longer holds this record, however, having been surpassed by the incorporation of Sitka in 2000. Juneau continues to be the only US state capital located on an international border: it is bordered on the east by Canada.

Neighboring Boroughs:

• Haines Borough, Alaska - north
• Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska - south and west

Also shares an eastern border with British Columbia, Canada.

• Stikine Region, British Columbia

Cities and Towns:

Borough Resources:

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