- 1974

Alaskans voted August 27 to move the state capital from Juneau to an as-yet-to-be-selected location. The site eventually selected two years later was Willow, north of Anchorage. (The vote to fund moving the capital failed in 1982.)

Alaska State Office Building, Juneau. photo by Mark Kelley in The Juneau Factbook 1983, p. 14.

A large new state office building was opened up along the Willoughby Avenue side of Telephone Hill and connected to 4th Street above to site it close to the state Capitol and the Alaska Office buildings. Its imposing and block-like architecture gave rise to the irreverent nickname “Fort Ray” in reference to Juneau’s powerful state senator, Bill Ray, who pushed through its legislative appropriation. The state offices were hooked up in January to a new million-dollar, direct-dialing, centralized phone system, with a separate state phone prefix and capacity to expand to an unlimited capacity.

Sealaska shareholders received their first individual dividend payments the end of January, representing a portion of cash payments entitled from the ANCSA. Each enrolled member received 100 shares of stock in the corporation and collectively had the opportunity to make land selections of up to 23,040 acres within a 50-mile radius of Juneau to be held and administered by the Juneau urban Native corporation, Goldbelt Inc., which had incorporated earlier in the year under the terms of ANCSA.

KTOO-FM, Alaska’s first non-commercial, listener-supported radio station signed on the air January 26 with a 10-watt radio station and a commitment to local service, community access and diverse viewpoints. The Snettisham Hydroelectric Project near Juneau won the coveted Army Chief of Engineer’s “Distinguished Design Award for Engineering.” The Nugget Mall, the area’s first non-grocery large shopping center, opened near the airport. Local voters also approved a 1% borough sales tax hike effective next year to help fund a winter ski area development in the upper Fish Creek watershed on north Douglas Island.

An early-morning fire June 20 consumed the seventh floor of the Baranof Hotel. A Minnesota visitor was killed in the fire, while State Senator John Rader broke an arm and a leg when his bed sheet rope broke while trying to escape from his seventh floor room. Fifteen others were hospitalized from smoke inhalation. In December, a fire destroyed the Mormon church near Lemon Creek, causing an estimated $400,000 – $700,000 in damage. Another church offered their facilities for the congregation to use, until a new facility could be built. Just before New Year’s Eve a tremendous rain and wind storm swept through the area, toppling trees, causing widespread damage to vehicles, homes, boats, and leaving several areas without power. Winds gusting over 80 mph in downtown Juneau broke the previous record of 78 mph winds at the airport, set in 1968.

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