- 1951

Memorial Library, Juneau, Alaska. Alaska State Library, Captain Lloyd H. (Kinky) Bayers Collection, Trevor Davis photo, MS10-4-19-069

The Juneau Memorial Library was dedicated November 11 to serve as a memorial and tribute to all Alaska veterans of the World Wars. After the most extensive local fundraising drive in Juneau’s history, over $82,000 was raised for its construction ($835,000 in 2021 dollars).  (The building is now the Juneau-Douglas City Museum.) The fund raising campaign began in 1947 and lasted for three years. The Kiwanis Club started it off with a $500 gift and other service and fraternal organizations began to take part, as well as most business firms and many individuals. It was a monumental effort, employing just about every type of fundraising activity imaginable – dances, bake sales, plays, musical events, candy sales, raffles with door-to-door ticket sales, special movies, and perhaps some that have been forgotten. The Alaska Native Sisterhood and Alaska Native Brotherhood exhibited tribal dances that had not been seen in Juneau for many a year, and the Filipino Community gave a special dance exhibition and costume exhibition.

The territory approved a $1,058,000 bid May 1 to construct the Alaska Office Building along Main Street between Third and Fourth Streets, replacing the old Arctic Brotherhood Hall and the Juneau City Hall, which was razed.

Mrs. Pauline Washington was unanimously elected to the Juneau City Council January 6 to replace another council member recently resigned. She received the next highest vote in the city election last fall and was the first woman to sit on the City Council here.

Juneau Dairies, Inc. installed $40,000 worth of modern machinery early in the year. As a result of the new machinery, ice cream was now manufactured in the plant (Twelfth Street and Glacier Avenue) and sold by local grocers, according to manager George Danner February 1. The capacity was more than 300 quarts of ice cream an hour.