Ketchikan Federal Building, Alaska
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Ketchikan ( ; tli, Kichx̱áan) is a
city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
in and the borough seat of the
Ketchikan Gateway Borough Ketchikan Gateway Borough is a borough located in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census its population was 13,948, up from 13,477 in 2010. The borough seat is Ketchikan. The borough is the second most populous borough in Southeast A ...
of
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 ...
. It is the state's southeasternmost major settlement. Downtown Ketchikan is a National Historic District. With a population at the 2020 census of 8,192, up from 8,050 in 2010, it is the sixth-most populous city in the state, and thirteenth-most populous community when
census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, suc ...
s are included. The surrounding borough, encompassing suburbs both north and south of the city along the
Tongass Highway Alaska Route 7 (abbreviated as AK-7) is a state highway in the Alaska Panhandle of the U.S. state of Alaska. It consists of four unconnected pieces, serving some of the Panhandle communities at which the Alaska Marine Highway ferries stop, and co ...
(most of which are commonly regarded as a part of Ketchikan, albeit not a part of the city itself), plus small rural settlements accessible mostly by water, registered a population of 13,948 in that same census. Incorporated on August 25, 1900, Ketchikan is the earliest extant incorporated city in Alaska, because consolidation or unification elsewhere in Alaska resulted in the dissolution of those communities' city governments. Ketchikan is located on Revillagigedo Island, so named in 1793 by Captain
George Vancouver Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what are ...
. Ketchikan is named after
Ketchikan Creek Ketchikan Creek (alternate, "Fish Creek"; Tlingit, "Kitschkhin") is a salmon spawning stream on Revillagigedo Island in the U.S. state of Alaska. It heads in a lake and travels through downtown Ketchikan to Tongass Narrows. The historic Creek S ...
, which flows through the town, emptying into the
Tongass Narrows Tongass Narrows is a Y-shaped channel, part of Southeast Alaska's Inside Passage. The waterway forms part of the Alaska Marine Highway and as such, is used by charter, commercial fishing, and recreational vessels, as well as commercial freight b ...
a short distance southeast of its downtown. "Ketchikan" comes from the Tlingit name for the creek, , the meaning of which is unclear. It may mean "the river belonging to Kitschk"; other accounts claim it means "Thundering Wings of an Eagle". In modern Tlingit, this name is .


History

Ketchikan Creek served as a summer fish camp for Tlingit natives for untold years before the town was established by Mike Martin in 1885. He was sent to the area by an Oregon canning company to assess prospects. He established the saltery Clark & Martin and a general store with
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...
native George Clark, who had been foreman at a cannery that burned down. Ketchikan became known as "Alaska's first city" due to its strategic position at the southern tip of the
Inside Passage The Inside Passage (french: Passage Intérieur) is a coastal route for ships and boats along a network of passages which weave through the islands on the Pacific Northwest coast of the North American Fjordland. The route extends from southeaste ...
, connecting the
Gulf of Alaska The Gulf of Alaska (Tlingit: ''Yéil T'ooch’'') is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east ...
to
Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected m ...
. In 1905 a mission house was built, which in 1909 became the Yates Memorial Hospital. In 2020, the
National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 ...
named the former hospital as one of America's most endangered historic places.


Totem poles

Ketchikan has the world's largest collection of standing
totem pole Totem poles ( hai, gyáaʼaang) are monumental carvings found in western Canada and the northwestern United States. They are a type of Northwest Coast art, consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually ...
s, found throughout the city and at four major locations: Saxman Totem Park, Totem Bight State Park, Potlatch Park, and the Totem Heritage Center. Most of the totems at Saxman Totem Park and Totem Bight State Park are recarvings of older poles, a practice that began during the Roosevelt Administration through the
Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a ...
. The Totem Heritage Center displays preserved 19th-century poles rescued from abandoned village sites near Ketchikan. The Chief Kyan pole in Whale Park in the city center is one of the featured background images in most US passports.


Geography

Ketchikan's GPS
geographic coordinates The geographic coordinate system (GCS) is a spherical or ellipsoidal coordinate system for measuring and communicating positions directly on the Earth as latitude and longitude. It is the simplest, oldest and most widely used of the various ...
are latitude 55.342 (slightly south of both Copenhagen, Denmark at 55.676 and Glasgow, Scotland at 55.864) and longitude -131.648. The city is located in southernmost Southeast Alaska on Revillagigedo Island, northwest of
Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...
, southeast of
Juneau, Alaska The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the ...
, and northwest of
Prince Rupert, British Columbia Prince Rupert is a port city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Its location is on Kaien Island near the Alaskan panhandle. It is the land, air, and water transportation hub of British Columbia's North Coast, and has a population of 1 ...
, Canada. It is surrounded by the
Tongass National Forest The Tongass National Forest () in Southeast Alaska is the largest U.S. National Forest at . Most of its area is temperate rain forest and is remote enough to be home to many species of endangered and rare flora and fauna. The Tongass, which is ...
, which is managed by the
United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Nationa ...
from its headquarters in the
Ketchikan Federal Building The Ketchikan Federal Building is a courthouse of the United States District Court for the District of Alaska, located at 648 Mission Street in Ketchikan, Alaska. It was completed in 1938, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Pla ...
downtown, and to the south by the
Tongass Narrows Tongass Narrows is a Y-shaped channel, part of Southeast Alaska's Inside Passage. The waterway forms part of the Alaska Marine Highway and as such, is used by charter, commercial fishing, and recreational vessels, as well as commercial freight b ...
, a narrow east-west saltwater channel, which is part of the
Inside Passage The Inside Passage (french: Passage Intérieur) is a coastal route for ships and boats along a network of passages which weave through the islands on the Pacific Northwest coast of the North American Fjordland. The route extends from southeaste ...
. Due to its steep and forested terrain, Ketchikan is long and narrow with much of the built-up area being located along, or no more than a few city blocks from, the waterfront. Elevations of inhabited areas range from just above sea level to about . Deer Mountain, a peak, rises immediately east of the city's downtown area. According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...
, the city has a total area of . of it is land and of it (29.14%) is water. The half-mile (800 m) wide channel called the Tongass Narrows separates Ketchikan from
Gravina Island Gravina Island is an island in the Gravina Islands of the Alexander Archipelago in southeastern Alaska. It is long and about wide, with a land area of . The island had a population of 50 people at the 2000 census. The Spanish explorer Jacint ...
, where
Ketchikan International Airport Ketchikan International Airport is a state-owned, public-use airport located one nautical mile (2 km) west of the central business district of Ketchikan, a city in Ketchikan Gateway Borough in Alaska, U.S. state that has no direct roa ...
is located.


Climate

Ketchikan has a mild maritime or
oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...
, characterized by heavy cloud cover and high humidity through much of the year and abundant rainfall throughout the year (even in the driest month), earning it the nickname of the "Rain Capital of Alaska". Ketchikan’s climate is classified as
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''Cfb'' (“Marine West Coast”). Winters are chilly but milder than its latitude alone may suggest: January has a 24-hour average of with an average daytime high of and an overnight low of . Summers are mild, as August's temperature averages with an average daytime high of and an overnight low of . Rainfall averages per year, falling more heavily in autumn and winter. On average, the growing season (non-freezing temperatures) lasts about 6.3 months or 191 days, extending from about April 19 to about October 27. Ketchikan rivals Whittier and Yakutat as the wettest city in Alaska and the United States. However, with an annual precipitation of , the city of Whittier receives significantly more annual precipitation than both Yakutat and Ketchikan, which makes it the wettest city in Alaska and the United States, and Yakutat and Ketchikan the second- and third-wettest, respectively. Further east and away from moderating maritime influence, winters on these parallels in inland North America are much colder. The record high temperature in Ketchikan was on June 25, 1913. The record low temperature was on January 23, 1916. On January 14, 2018 Ketchikan recorded a high temperature of which is the highest recorded temperature in Alaska in the month of January. The wettest year was 1949 with and the driest year was 1995 with . The most rainfall in one month was during October 1974 and the most rainfall in 24 hours was on October 11, 1977. The most
snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughou ...
fall in one month was in January 1971.


Demographics

Ketchikan first appeared on the 1890 U.S. Census as the unincorporated village of "Kichikan." Of its 40 residents, 26 were Native, nine were White and five were Creole (Mixed Russian & Native). It returned as Ketchikan beginning in 1900 and in every successive census. It incorporated as a city also in 1900. , there were 8,050 people, 3,259 households, and 1,885 families residing in the city. As of 2017, The population density was 1,829.5 per square mile (714.1/km2). There were 3,731 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 60.7%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
, 16.7% Native American (8.3%
Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),
-
Haida Haida may refer to: Places * Haida, an old name for Nový Bor * Haida Gwaii, meaning "Islands of the People", formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands * Haida Islands, a different archipelago near Bella Bella, British Columbia Ships * , a ...
, 1.9%
Tsimshian The Tsimshian (; tsi, Ts’msyan or Tsm'syen) are an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace and Prince Rupert, and Metlakatla, Alaska on Annette Island, the only r ...
), 10.8% Asian (9.4% Filipino), 10.0% from two or more races, 0.8%
Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...
or
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.3%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
, and 0.7% some other race. 4.4% of the population were
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...
or Latino (2.6% Mexican) of any race. There were 3,259 households. 30.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.6% were headed by married couples living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.2% were non-families. 33.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.0% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41, and the average family size was 3.07. The population was spread by age ranges, with 23.9% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 26.6% from 25 to 44, 29.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.5 males. In 2017, the ACS-estimated median and average annual incomes for a household in the city were $56,372 and $70,490, respectively. The median and average incomes for a family were $68,438 and $84,518, respectively. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...
for the city was $30,474. About 12.4% of the population, including 19.8% of those under 18-years old, were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
. 90.0% spoke English, 5.98% Tagalog, 1.81% Spanish, and 0.7% Tsimshian as their first language.


Media

Ketchikan is home to four radio stations:
KTKN KTKN (930 AM) is an American commercial radio station airing talk and hot adult contemporary music programming in Ketchikan, Alaska. It is owned and operated by Alaska Broadcast Communications. The studios are at 526 Stedman Street in Ketchika ...
-AM 930,
KGTW KGTW is a commercial country music radio station in Ketchikan, Alaska, broadcasting on 106.7 FM. It is owned and operated by Alaska Broadcast Communications. The studios are at 526 Stedman Street in Ketchikan, with sister station KTKN KTKN (9 ...
-FM 106.7,
KFMJ KFMJ is a full service, commercial, classic hits music radio station in Ketchikan, Alaska, broadcasting on 99.9 MHz FM, is owned by Steven Rhyner through licensee KFMJ Radio LLC. and was launched on August 2, 1996. One of two commercial ...
-FM 99.9, and community-owned
NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
-affiliated
KRBD KRBD is a non-commercial radio station in Ketchikan, Alaska, broadcasting on 105.3 FM. The station airs public radio programming from the National Public Radio network, the BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international ...
-FM 105.3. Ketchikan has one over-the-air broadcast television station,
KUBD (TV) KUBD, virtual and VHF digital channel 13, is a CBS- affiliated television station licensed to Ketchikan, Alaska, United States. Owned by Gray Television, it is operated as a full-time satellite of Juneau-licensed KYEX-LD (channel 5). KUBD's tr ...
, Channel 13 digital and 4 visual, a
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
network affiliate. Ketchikan also houses the publishing offices of the ''
Ketchikan Daily News The ''Ketchikan Daily News'' is the primary daily newspaper for Ketchikan, Alaska, founded in 1934. Lew Williams, Jr., who became the paper's managing editor in 1966, was well known in Alaska as an opinion columnist. Originally appearing mainly ...
''. The region has local cable television programming provided by Ketchikan Public Utilities, including public meetings,
Southeast Alaska Southeast Alaska, colloquially referred to as the Alaska(n) Panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, bordered to the east and north by the northern half of the Canadian province of British Columbia (and a small part ...
programming, Ketchikan High School sports and events, local history, gardening and scenes, and a calendar of upcoming local events; local television signals carried on the cable system are also translations of
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...
and
Anchorage 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 ...
stations.


Government and infrastructure

The City of Ketchikan operates under a council-manager form of government. In 2018, Robert Sivertsen replaced Lew Williams III, who had served as mayor or councilmember for 28 years, as mayor of the City of Ketchikan. The current city mayor is Dave Kiffer who was elected in 2021. The Ketchikan Gateway Borough includes both the City of Ketchikan and the City of Saxman and encompasses more than from the Canada–US border to just south of Wrangell. Rodney Dial is the current Mayor of the
Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska Ketchikan Gateway Borough is a borough located in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census its population was 13,948, up from 13,477 in 2010. The borough seat is Ketchikan. The borough is the second most populous borough in Southeast A ...
. The
Alaska Marine Highway System The Alaska Marine Highway (AMH) or the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) is a ferry service operated by the U.S. state of Alaska. It has its headquarters in Ketchikan, Alaska. The Alaska Marine Highway System operates along the south-central ...
has its headquarters in Ketchikan. Ketchikan has long loomed heavy in Alaska's political landscape, though the increasing population in Southcentral Alaska has led to a diminishment of its influence since the 1980s. Following a round of
redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral distri ...
, the convening of the 28th Alaska State Legislature in January 2013 marked the first time in the state's history that no residents of Ketchikan or the surrounding area serve as members of the
Alaska Legislature The Alaska Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a bicameral institution consisting of the 40-member Alaska House of Representatives (lower house) and the 20-member Alaska Senate (upper house). There are 40 Ho ...
. Ketchikan is represented in the
Alaska Senate The Alaska State Senate is the upper house in the Alaska Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It convenes in the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau, Alaska and is responsible for making laws and confirming or rejecting gu ...
by
Bert Stedman Bert Stedman (born March 6, 1956) is a Republican member of the Alaska Senate. A fourth generation Alaskan, he was born in Anchorage and spent his childhood between Petersburg and Sitka. He was appointed by Governor Frank Murkowski in November ...
, who lives in
Sitka russian: Ситка , native_name_lang = tli , settlement_type = Consolidated city-borough , image_skyline = File:Sitka 84 Elev 135.jpg , image_caption = Downtown Sitka in 1984 , image_size ...
, and in the
Alaska House of Representatives The Alaska State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Alaska Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. The House is composed of 40 members, each of whom represents a district of approximately 17,756 people per ...
by
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...
Dan Ortiz, a former schoolteacher who taught at Ketchikan High School. Over the decades, Ketchikan has produced a number of political figures of note to Alaska in general. In territorial days, Norman Ray "Doc" Walker, a Canadian-born pharmacist practicing in Ketchikan, was arguably the first career member of the
Alaska Legislature The Alaska Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a bicameral institution consisting of the 40-member Alaska House of Representatives (lower house) and the 20-member Alaska Senate (upper house). There are 40 Ho ...
. Walker served in the territorial Senate for 16 years before losing reelection in 1948 following a feud with territorial governor Ernest Gruening. During the first governorship of
Walter Hickel Walter Joseph Hickel (August 18, 1919 – May 7, 2010) was an American businessman, real estate developer, and politician who served as the second governor of Alaska from 1966 to 1969 and 1990 to 1994 and as U.S. Secretary of the Interior from ...
in the 1960s, two members of his cabinet (
Frank Murkowski Frank Hughes Murkowski (born March 28, 1933) is an American politician and a member of the Republican Party. He was a United States Senator from Alaska from 1981 until 2002 and the eighth governor of Alaska from 2002 until 2006. In his 2006 re- ...
and
Robert W. Ward Robert Walter Ward (November 26, 1929 – April 3, 1997) was an American electrician, businessman, and government executive, and Republican politician from the U.S. state of Alaska. He was the third Secretary of State of Alaska from 1969 to 1970 ...
) held strong ties to Ketchikan. Following Hickel's resignation, Ward ascended to the office of secretary of state when
Keith H. Miller Keith Harvey Miller (March 1, 1925 – March 2, 2019) was an American Republican politician from Alaska. Miller was the second secretary of state of Alaska under Walter Hickel. He became the third governor of Alaska after Hickel’s resignat ...
became governor. Ketchikan native Walter L. Kubley, deputy commissioner of commerce under Hickel, became commissioner of the department under Miller. Another Ketchikan native, Terry Gardiner, was notable as the youngest person elected to the
Alaska House of Representatives The Alaska State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Alaska Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. The House is composed of 40 members, each of whom represents a district of approximately 17,756 people per ...
(at age 22), as well as the youngest person elected
Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hunger ...
(at age 28). The
United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, m ...
maintains a large shore installation, Coast Guard Base Ketchikan, south of the downtown area, which serves as a homeport to three cutters and as a regional maintenance base for Alaska. According to the U.S. Postal Service, one of Ketchikan's two zip codes, 99950, is the highest-numbered in the United States.


Economy and industries

A major and first port of entry into Alaska, Ketchikan's economy has been based on fishing industries, canneries in particular, tourism, government, and forestry. Average annual civilian employment in 2017 was 4,070, with a substantial seasonal work force peaking in July. The area near the mouth of Ketchikan Creek earned Ketchikan a measure of infamy during the first half of the 20th century for a
red-light district A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are partic ...
known as Creek Street, with
brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub p ...
s aligned on either side of the creek. Ketchikan's economy is currently based upon government services, tourism and commercial fishing. Civic boosters have dubbed the community the "
Salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Onco ...
Capital of the World." Ketchikan also receives a large number of tourists, both by air and sea, due to its popularity as a
cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...
stop. In 2018, Ketchikan Harbour saw 40 different cruise ships making more than 500 stops in the harbour and bringing more than 1,073,000 visitors to Ketchikan. The Misty Fiords National Monument is one of the area's major attractions, and the
Tongass National Forest The Tongass National Forest () in Southeast Alaska is the largest U.S. National Forest at . Most of its area is temperate rain forest and is remote enough to be home to many species of endangered and rare flora and fauna. The Tongass, which is ...
has long been headquartered in Ketchikan, mostly in the city's historic
Federal Building A federal building is a building housing local offices of various government departments and agencies in countries with a federal system, especially when the central government is referred to as the "federal government". Federal buildings in ...
. For most of the latter half of the 20th century, a large portion of Ketchikan's economy and life centered on the
Ketchikan Pulp Company Ketchikan Pulp Company was a pulp mill located on the north shore of Ward Cove, from Ketchikan, in the U.S. state of Alaska. Owned by Louisiana-Pacific, it operated between 1954 and 1997. It was the last pulp mill to operate in the state. Al ...
pulp mill A pulp mill is a manufacturing facility that converts wood chips or other plant fiber sources into a thick fiber board which can be shipped to a paper mill for further processing. Pulp can be manufactured using mechanical, semi-chemical, or ...
in nearby Ward Cove. The mill closed in 1997 in the wake of the passage of the Tongass Timber Reform Act of 1990, which reduced timber harvest targets in the national forest.HR 987, 101st Congress, Tongass Timber Reform Act
summary by the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
.


Lumber

Ketchikan Pulp Company (KPC), a subsidiary of
Louisiana-Pacific Corp. Louisiana-Pacific Corporation, commonly known as "LP", is an American building materials manufacturer. It was founded in 1973 and is currently based in Nashville, Tennessee. LP pioneered the U.S. production of oriented strand board (OSB) panels ...
, was headquartered just outside Ketchikan's city limits on the shores of Ward Cove. The company's
pulp mill A pulp mill is a manufacturing facility that converts wood chips or other plant fiber sources into a thick fiber board which can be shipped to a paper mill for further processing. Pulp can be manufactured using mechanical, semi-chemical, or ...
opened in the cove in 1954. A 1995 joint EPA and FBI investigation of the company revealed it had dumped contaminated wastewater and sludge in the waters around Ward Cove, leaving them classified as "impaired" by the EPA. KPC plead guilty to the charges and agreed to pay a $3 million fine. In 1996, following the Clinton Administration's refusal to reinstate the original terms of KPC's timber contract, Louisiana-Pacific Corp. announced it would be shutting down the pulp mill, and did so in March 1997. A total of 514 direct year-round jobs and more than 500 indirect jobs were lost as a result.


Marine

The Ketchikan Shipyard consists of two dry-docks (10,000 ton and 2,500 ton) owned and operated by Alaska Ship & Drydock, a subsidiary of
Vigor Industrial Vigor Industrial (Vigor) is an American shipbuilding, shiprepair, and industrial service provider in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Based in Portland, Oregon, the company consists of several subsidiary companies for a combined total of seven ...
. It successfully launched the M/V ''Susitna'' in April 2010. A prototype ferry craft for use by Alaska's
Matanuska-Susitna Borough Matanuska-Susitna Borough (often referred to as the Mat-Su Borough) is a borough located in the U.S. state of Alaska. Its county seat is Palmer, and the largest community is the census-designated place of Knik-Fairview. The borough is part of ...
, the ''Susitna'' is the result of planning by Admiral
Jay M. Cohen Jay Martin Cohen (born December 12, 1946) is a retired Rear Admiral of the United States Navy and former Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Science and Technology of the United States Department of Homeland Security. He entered the Navy ...
, former chief of the Office of Naval Research, and former Navy captain Lew Madden, then working as a project manager for
Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...
. Dubbed E-Craft (for Expeditionary use), the ''Susitna'' will serve as the engineering and feasibility platform for a Navy vessel of approximately double the size to assist troops in landing at undeveloped beaches around the world. The contract for two new Alaska-class day ferries in the
Alaska Marine Highway The Alaska Marine Highway (AMH) or the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) is a ferry service operated by the U.S. state of Alaska. It has its headquarters in Ketchikan, Alaska. The Alaska Marine Highway System operates along the south-central ...
was awarded to the shipyard on September 20, 2014,at a cost of $101 million.


Power and telecom

Companies involved in power and telecommunications include Ketchikan Public Utilities (KPU), which is city-owned, as well as GCI and
Alaska Power and Telephone Company Alaska Power and Telephone Company is a communications and utilities firm operating in Alaska. It currently provides service above the Arctic Circle, in the Wrangell Mountains The Wrangell Mountains are a high mountain range of eastern Alaska ...
(AP&T).


Transportation

Ketchikan serves as both an air and marine transportation hub for southern
Southeast Alaska Southeast Alaska, colloquially referred to as the Alaska(n) Panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, bordered to the east and north by the northern half of the Canadian province of British Columbia (and a small part ...
. The
Ketchikan International Airport Ketchikan International Airport is a state-owned, public-use airport located one nautical mile (2 km) west of the central business district of Ketchikan, a city in Ketchikan Gateway Borough in Alaska, U.S. state that has no direct roa ...
serves as both a gateway for
Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines is a major American airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, within the Seattle metropolitan area. It is the sixth largest airline in North America when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and the num ...
nonstop jet service to and from
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
,
Juneau The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the se ...
,
Sitka russian: Ситка , native_name_lang = tli , settlement_type = Consolidated city-borough , image_skyline = File:Sitka 84 Elev 135.jpg , image_caption = Downtown Sitka in 1984 , image_size ...
and Wrangell, with direct service to
Anchorage 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 ...
, and as a bush carrier and charter aircraft hub for destinations such as Hyder, Metlakatla and Prince of Wales Island communities. Flying time to/from Seattle, Washington is approximately ninety minutes, making Ketchikan easily accessible to travelers from the continental U.S.
Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the List of airlines by foundation date, world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atla ...
began operating seasonal service to Seattle in May 2015. Ketchikan receives service from two separate ferry lines. Ketchikan is a major port along the
Alaska Marine Highway System The Alaska Marine Highway (AMH) or the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) is a ferry service operated by the U.S. state of Alaska. It has its headquarters in Ketchikan, Alaska. The Alaska Marine Highway System operates along the south-central ...
's
Inside Passage The Inside Passage (french: Passage Intérieur) is a coastal route for ships and boats along a network of passages which weave through the islands on the Pacific Northwest coast of the North American Fjordland. The route extends from southeaste ...
route. Vessels depart northbound to Alaskan ports of call and southbound to
Prince Rupert, British Columbia Prince Rupert is a port city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Its location is on Kaien Island near the Alaskan panhandle. It is the land, air, and water transportation hub of British Columbia's North Coast, and has a population of 1 ...
, a six-hour trip, — where a connection can be made to the
BC Ferries British Columbia Ferry Services Inc., operating as BC Ferries (BCF), is a former provincial Crown corporation, now operating as an independently managed, publicly owned Canadian company. BC Ferries provides all major passenger and vehicle ferry ...
system — and
Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the most populous city in, and county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It lies south of the U.S.–Canada border in between two major cities of the Pacific Northwest: Vancouver, British Columbia (locat ...
, a thirty-six-hour voyage. Sailings depart several times each week. Ketchikan also sees regular day service from the Alaska Marine Highway vessel M/V ''Lituya'', a day boat that shuttles between its homeport in Metlakatla, AK and Ketchikan. The
Inter-Island Ferry Authority The Inter-Island Ferry Authority (IFA) is a ferry service in the U.S. state of Alaska with its headquarters in Hollis, Alaska on Prince of Wales Island. History The Inter-Island Ferry Authority was created in 1997 by the Prince of Wales Island com ...
serves Ketchikan with daily service from its homeport in Hollis on Prince of Wales Island.


Education


Colleges and universities

The former Ketchikan Community College became the Ketchikan campus of the
University of Alaska Southeast The University of Alaska Southeast (UA Southeast, Alaska Southeast, or UAS) is a public university with its main campus in Juneau, Alaska and extended campuses in Sitka and Ketchikan. It is part of the University of Alaska System and was estab ...
during the late 1980s restructuring of the
University of Alaska System The University of Alaska System is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Alaska. It was created in 1917 and comprises three separately accredited universities on 19 campuses. The system serves nearly 30,000 full- and part-time stud ...
. The campus is located on the uphill side of Ketchikan's West End neighborhood and consists of two buildings, the Paul Building and the Ziegler Building. Both are named for prominent Ketchikan residents of the early and mid 20th century, William Lewis Paul and Adolph Holton Ziegler, respectively.


Public education

*
Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District The Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District provides k-12 public education to the children of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough and Ketchikan, Alaska. The district is governed by a school board of seven community-elected members, with one advisory s ...
**
Ketchikan High School Ketchikan High School, often referred to as Kayhi, is the principal high school for the Southeast Alaska community of Ketchikan and the Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District. See also * List of high schools in Alaska This is a list of hig ...
** Revilla Junior/Senior High School **
Schoenbar Middle School The Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District provides k-12 public education to the children of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough and Ketchikan, Alaska, Ketchikan, Alaska. The district is governed by a school board of seven community-elected members, w ...


Health care

The city of Ketchikan and its surrounding areas are primarily served by the
PeaceHealth PeaceHealth is a not-for-profit health care system that owns and operates ten hospitals, and numerous clinics, in the Western United States. Headquartered in Vancouver, Washington, the organization has operations in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington ...
Ketchikan Medical Center, which operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.


Sister cities and twin towns

*
Palm Desert, California Palm Desert is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley, approximately east of Palm Springs, northeast of San Diego and east of Los Angeles. The population was 48,445 at the 2010 census. The city has bee ...
* Kanayama,
Gifu is a city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. During the Sengoku ...
, Japan
ormer Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any of a group of small to very large marine gastropod molluscs in the family Haliotidae. Other common names are ear shells, sea ears, and, rarely, muttonfish or mutton ...
Ketchikan's former sister city of Kanayama, Gifu Prefecture, Japan, was incorporated along with four other cities into the larger city of
Gero Gero I ( – 20 May 965), sometimes called the Great ( la, magnus),Thompson, 486. Also se was a German nobleman who ruled an initially modest march centred on Merseburg in the south of the present German state of Saxony-Anhalt, which he expande ...
on March 1, 2004. An educational exchange program has been active between the two towns since 1986. Every year, Ketchikan and Kanayama exchange one teacher each to instruct middle-school level language classes in their respective tongues. In addition, Kanayama sends a group of students to Ketchikan during the spring, and students from Ketchikan travel to Kanayama the following summer. Ketchikan students travel across Japan, with the majority of their time spent in Kanayama with home-stay families, attending classes and touring the town.


Notable people

* Danny Edwards (born 1951), professional golfer * Nathan Jackson (artist), Nathan Jackson (born 1938), Tlingit people, Tlingit artist famous for his carving of totem poles * Roy Jones (aviator), Roy Jones (1893–1974), first person to fly commercially in Alaska * Jerry Mackie (politician), Jerry Mackie (born 1962), Alaska state legislator and businessman, born in Ketchikan *Tallie Medel, actress *
Frank Murkowski Frank Hughes Murkowski (born March 28, 1933) is an American politician and a member of the Republican Party. He was a United States Senator from Alaska from 1981 until 2002 and the eighth governor of Alaska from 2002 until 2006. In his 2006 re- ...
(born 1933), former United States Senator and Governor of Alaska; Murkowski grew up in Ketchikan, where his father was vice-president of the First National Bank of Ketchikan, which exists today as a Southeast Alaska, Southeast regional bank called First Bank * Lisa Murkowski (born 1957), second daughter of Frank Murkowski and his successor as U.S. Senator, born in Ketchikan * Rudy Pankow (born 1998), American actor * William Paul (attorney), William Paul (1885–1977), (''Shgúndi''), Tlingit statesman and leader in the Alaska Native Brotherhood born near Ketchikan. Paul was the first Alaska Native to become an attorney and first elected to the Territory of Alaska, Alaska Territorial legislature * Ray Troll (born 1954), artist famous for blending art and science in his fish-laden drawings * Don Watts (farmer), Don Watts (born 1956 or 1957), farmer and entrepreneur


In popular culture

Several movies have been shot in Ketchikan, including ''The Silver Horde (1930 film), The Silver Horde'', ''Spawn of the North'', ''Timber Tramps'' and ''Cry Vengeance'', plus episodes of the television programs ''The Love Boat'' and ''Baywatch''. An episode of ''MythBusters, Mythbusters'' where the team sees if a ship made out of ice and sawdust can really float was filmed in Ketchikan in 2009. The National Geographic Channel series ''Alaska Wing Men'' in the episode "Fatal Crash" follows a National Transportation Safety Board investigator's site visit of a July 2010 bush flying, bush pilot fatal crash near Ketchikan. In ''The Young Pope'' TV series, the character Pope Pius XIII as a punishment sends several cardinals who upset him to Ketchikan, which is depicted as a frozen wasteland. In Arthur Miller's play ''Death of a Salesman'', Uncle Ben must leave Willy to go to Ketchikan, where he presumably made part of his fortune.


See also

* National Register of Historic Places listings in Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska * Seathwaite, Allerdale, wettest settlement in the United Kingdom


References


External links

*
Ketchikan Visitor's Bureau
*

by Dave Kiffer {{Authority control Ketchikan, Alaska, Borough seats in Alaska Cities in Alaska Cities in Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska Micropolitan areas of Alaska Populated coastal places in Alaska on the Pacific Ocean Populated places established in 1885