The Alaskan Engineering Commission (AEC) was a U.S. Federal agency, sometimes known by its initials or by alternate spelling Alaska Engineering Commission. It was created by the Alaska Railroad Act in 1914 by U.S. President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of P ...

in order to arrange for the construction of a railway system in Alaska.

William C. Edes William C. Edes (January 14, 1856- May 25, 1922) was a U.S. civil engineer. He was the chairman and former chief engineer of the Alaskan Engineering Commission. Early years Born in 1856 at Bolton, Massachusetts, he graduated from Massachusetts In ...

was named chairman, chief engineer Colonel Frederick Mears. In 1915, the AEC became part of the U.S.

Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the m ...

. In 1923, after the railroad began operation and construction was complete, it became the Alaska Railroad Commission, later renamed to The Alaska Railroad. Among other accomplishments, it designed and/or built a number of works listed on the U.S.

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 artist ...

. Works include: *

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 F ...

, built in 1923 *

Alaska Engineering Commission Cottage No. 23 The Alaska Engineering Commission Cottage No. 23, also known as DeLong Cottage, is an historic house at 618 Christensen Drive in Anchorage, Alaska. It is a -story wood-frame structure, with a gable roof and porch extending across its front. I ...

, 618 Christensen Dr.

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 ...

, NRHP-listed *

Alaska Engineering Commission Cottage No. 25 The Alaska Engineering Commission Cottage No. 25 is a historic house at 345 West Third Avenue in Anchorage, Alaska. It is a two-story wood-frame structure, with a low-pitch gable roof that has wide overhanging eaves with exposed rafter tails. ...

, 645 W. Third Ave., Anchorage, AK, NRHP-listed *

Pioneer School House Background In the 1914-1915 Anchorage's population grew quickly when workmen and their families moved to the area to work on building the Alaska Railroad. In 1915 Frederick Mears' wife, Jane Mears, organized the Anchorage Woman's Club specifically ...

, 3rd Ave. and Eagle St., Anchorage, AK, NRHP-listed *

Seward Depot The Seward Depot, also known as the Seward Station, is a former rail depot in Seward, Alaska, United States. The depot was constructed in 1917 at what is now Adams Street and Ballaine Boulevard to serve the railroad line. Seward was and remains ...

, 501 Railway Ave.

Seward, Alaska Seward (Alutiiq: ; Dena'ina: ''Tl'ubugh'') is an incorporated home rule city in Alaska, United States. Located on Resurrection Bay, a fjord of the Gulf of Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula, Seward is situated on Alaska's southern coast, approximat ...

, NRHP-listed *

Wasilla Depot The Wasilla Depot was built in 1917 in Wasilla, Alaska. It was designed and built by the Alaska Engineering Commission, a federal agency charged with building Alaska's railways. and The structure, located at the corner of Parks Highway and Ma ...

, Parks Highway and Knik Rd.

Wasilla, Alaska Wasilla ( Dena'ina: ''Benteh'') is a city in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, United States and the fourth-largest city in Alaska. It is located on the northern point of Cook Inlet in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley of the southcentral part of the st ...

, NRHP-listed * Whitney Section House, 3400 W. Neuser Dr., Wasilla, AK, NRHP-listed

References

External links

Alaska Engineering Commission Photograph Collection
- University of Washington Digital Collection Agencies of the United States government Alaska Railroad {{Alaska-transport-stub