Joseph A. Spenard (1879–1934) was an early settler of

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

. Lake Spenard, Spenard Road, and the city of Spenard, Alaska (now incorporated into the Municipality of Anchorage) bear his name.

Biography

Joseph A. Spenard was born in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Ontario, Canada in 1879. He came to

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

about 1910, working for the Alaska Securities Company in Valdez before striking out on his own as a pushcart vendor. In 1916, Spenard came to Anchorage, which had only been named the previous year. He is credited with bringing the first automobile to Anchorage, a truck manufactured by the

REO Motor Car Company The REO Motor Car Company was a company based in Lansing, Michigan, which produced automobiles and trucks from 1905 to 1975. At one point, the company also manufactured buses on its truck platforms. Ransom E. Olds was an entrepreneur who founded ...

. He also owned a 1915

Ford Model T The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...

which served as the city's first taxicab. Spenard started a hauling business called the City Express. Flamboyantly decked out in a yellow suit and a top hat, he promoted his services with the slogan, "Time and Tide will Not Wait, But City Express Is Never Late." A newspaper ad for the service contained the following poem:

Four bits is my middle name,
Truck and passengers just the same
No matter from whence you came,
City Express is in the game.

He built a logging road from the Anchorage city boundary at Ninth Avenue and L Street, across Chester and Fish Creek, to what was then called "Jeter Lake" after homesteader Thomas Jeter. The trail and lake would later come to be known respectively as Spenard Road and Lake Spenard. As the area attracted settlers, it became known as the city of Spenard. Spenard came under the scrutiny of the

National Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

for clearing an area on the lake's edge and constructing a dance pavilion in what was then part of the

Chugach National Forest The Chugach National Forest is a United States National Forest in south central Alaska. Covering portions of Prince William Sound, the Kenai Peninsula and the Copper River Delta, it was formed in 1907 from part of a larger forest reserve. The Ch ...

. In 1916, he held the first Anchorage Ice Carnival there.The History of Anchorage, Alaska
at www.ci.anchorage.ak.us In 1917, the pavilion burned down, but the lake continued to be known as a recreational hot spot. Spenard's health failed and he sold his business and moved to

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

, where he died in 1934.

References

;General * ;Specific

Bibliography

* Tower, Elizabeth ''Anchorage: From its Humble Origins as a Railroad Construction Camp'' () (p. 46-7, "Joe Spenard's Legacy") {{DEFAULTSORT:Spenard, Joe 1879 births 1934 deaths American transportation businesspeople Canadian emigrants to the United States History of Anchorage, Alaska Businesspeople from Anchorage, Alaska Businesspeople from Ottawa People from Sacramento, California People from Valdez, Alaska People of the Alaska Territory