I Was Here – Statehood Stories
Were you here during Alaska's fight for statehood? Was your business around back then? Email your "I Was Here" story to 50@anchorage.net.
Statehood – by Fraya (Petranovich) Krukar:
My dad came to Anchorage in 1950 from Oak Creek Colorado. Because mom thought it was the "end of the earth," she stayed in Oak Creek with my brother and I until the following summer. We stayed at a boarding house with dad sending money so they could pay off their bill at the local store.
I have his first dollar bill earned here, while digging ditches at the Idle Hour Country Club. He was hired shortly thereafter by Chugach Electric as an apprentice lineman. In June of 1951 we joined him and lived at 10th and Denali where dad bought a house using the GI Bill.
In 1953 we moved to Birchwood which was a "homesite".
