The Seward Depot, also known as the Seward Station, is a former rail depot in Seward,

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., ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The depot was constructed in 1917 at what is now Adams Street and Ballaine Boulevard to serve the railroad line. Seward was and remains the southern terminus of the

Alaska Railroad 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., ...

. The Seward line was owned by the Alaska Central Railroad, the Alaska Northern Railroad, and at the time of the depot's construction, the U.S. government. President

Warren G. Harding Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents. A ...

visited Seward and Alaska in 1923, and following completion of the

Mears Memorial Bridge The Mears Memorial Bridge is a truss bridge on the Alaska Railroad, completed in 1923. The bridge spans the Tanana River at Nenana and at , it is among the largest simple truss-type bridges in the world. History The bridge's namesake, Colonel Fr ...

, drove the ceremonial

golden spike The golden spike (also known as The Last Spike) is the ceremonial 17.6-karat gold final spike driven by Leland Stanford to join the rails of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States connecting the Central Pacific Railroad ...

at Nenana, connecting Seward with

Fairbanks Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the po ...

. In 1928 the building was moved to its current location on Railway Avenue following a flood of Lowell Creek. Much of the

railyard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or ...

in Seward and the track north along the

Turnagain Arm Turnagain Arm ( Dena'ina: ''Tutl'uh'') is a waterway into the northwestern part of the Gulf of Alaska. It is one of two narrow branches at the north end of Cook Inlet, the other being Knik Arm. Turnagain is subject to climate extremes and large tid ...

were destroyed in the

Good Friday earthquake The 1964 Alaskan earthquake, also known as the Great Alaskan earthquake and Good Friday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 PM AKST on Good Friday, March 27.

and the subsequent

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

that hit the town, and the depot was out of use. It served as the headquarters for the Alaska Marine Highway's ''

M/V Tustumena M/V ''Tustumena'' is a mainline ferry vessel for the Alaska Marine Highway System. ''Tustumena'' was constructed in 1963 by Christy Corporation in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and refurbished in 1969 in San Francisco. As the only mainline ferry in Sou ...

'' for a time. In 1998 it was sold to the

Chugach Alaska Corporation Chugach Alaska Corporation, or CAC, is one of thirteen Alaska Native Regional Corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) in settlement of aboriginal land claims. Chugach Alaska Corporation was incorporated ...

after the corporation completed renovations, and the building served as a

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

cultural center for three years. It is currently owned by the Seward Association of the Advancement of Marine Science, dba,

Alaska SeaLife Center The Alaska SeaLife Center, Alaska's premier public aquarium and Alaska's only permanent marine mammal rehabilitation facility, is located on the shores of Resurrection Bay in Seward in the U.S. state of Alaska. Open since May 1998, it is dedicat ...

, who lease it for operation as a cafe. Hoben Park, also listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, is adjacent to the depot. Both are located at the southernmost point in Seward.

References

External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places Former Alaska Railroad stations Buildings and structures in Seward, Alaska Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Alaska Railway stations in the United States opened in 1917 American Craftsman architecture in Alaska Bungalow architecture in Alaska Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska Repurposed railway stations in the United States 1917 establishments in Alaska

See also

References

External links