Ketchikan ( ; ) is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

in and the borough seat of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough on Revillagigedo Island of

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. It is the state's southeasternmost major settlement. Downtown Ketchikan is a National Historic Landmark 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 Place (United States Census Bureau), 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 counte ...

s are included. The surrounding borough, encompassing suburbs both north and south of the city along the Tongass Highway (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 (Royal Navy), Captain George Vancouver (; 22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer best known for leading the Vancouver Expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern West Coast of the Uni ...

. Ketchikan is named after Ketchikan Creek, which flows through the town, emptying into the Tongass Narrows 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 a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

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, connecting the Gulf of Alaska to

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...

. In 1905 a mission house was built, which in 1909 became the Yates Memorial Hospital. In 2020, the National Trust for Historic Preservation 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 poles, 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 ...

. 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 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 the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

, southeast of

Juneau, Alaska Juneau ( ; ), officially the City and Borough of Juneau, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Alaska, located along the Gastineau Channel and the Southeast Alaska, Alaskan panhandle. Juneau was named the ...

, and northwest of Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada. It is surrounded by the Tongass National Forest, which is managed by the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Natio ...

from its headquarters in the Ketchikan Federal Building downtown, and to the south by the Tongass Narrows, a narrow east–west saltwater channel, which is part of the Inside Passage. 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, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, 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, where Ketchikan International Airport is located.

Climate

Ketchikan has a mild maritime or

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Cfb'', Trewartha ''Dolk''), characterized by heavy cloud cover, high humidity and abundant rainfall throughout the year (even in the driest month), earning it the nickname of the "Rain Capital of Alaska". Prolonged breaks in the very wet weather occur only when very cold air from the

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

penetrates the coastal mountains, bringing frigid and clear conditions all the way to the coast,See and often leaving residents unprepared as water pipes will then freeze. This occurred notably in the Januaries of 1916, 1950 and 1969. Outside of these continental outbreaks 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 . Further east and away from moderating maritime influence, winters on these parallels in inland North America are much colder. 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. The record high temperature in Ketchikan was on June 25, 1913. The record low temperature was on January 23, 1916. The wettest year was 1949 with and the driest year was 1995 with . The most rainfall in one month was during November 1917 and the most rainfall in 24 hours was on October 11, 1977. The most

snow Snow consists of 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 througho ...

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 and Native). It returned as Ketchikan beginning in 1900 and in every successive census. It incorporated as a city also in 1900. Ketchikan AK

, 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 chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 16.7% Native American (8.3%

Tlingit The Tlingit or Lingít ( ) are Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. , they constitute two of the 231 federally recognized List of Alaska Native tribal entities, Tribes of Alaska. Most Tlingit are Alaska Natives; ...

Haida Haida may refer to: Haida people Many uses of the word derive from the name of an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. * Haida people, an Indigenous ethnic group of North America (Canada) ** Council of the Haida Nati ...

, 1.9%

Tsimshian The Tsimshian (; ) are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace, British Columbia, Terrace and ...

), 10.8% Asian (9.4% Filipino), 10.0% from two or more races, 0.8%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.3%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, and 0.7% some other race. 4.4% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

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 average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

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, 6.0% Tagalog, 1.8% Spanish, and 0.7% Tsimshian as their first language.

Media

Ketchikan is home to four radio stations:

KTKN KTKN (930 AM broadcasting, AM) is an American commercial radio station airing talk radio, talk and hot adult contemporary music programming in Ketchikan, Alaska. It is owned and operated by Alaska Broadcast Communications. The studios are at 52 ...

-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 ( ...

-FM 106.7, KFMJ-FM 99.9, and community-owned

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

-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, and is a member of CoastAlaska. KRBD also airs some ...

-FM 105.3. Ketchikan has one over-the-air broadcast television station, KUBD, Channel 13 digital and 4 visual, a

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

network affiliate. Ketchikan also houses the publishing offices of the '' Ketchikan Daily News''. The region has local cable television programming provided by Ketchikan Public Utilities, including public meetings,

Southeast Alaska Southeast Alaska, often abbreviated to southeast or southeastern, and sometimes called 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 provi ...

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 the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

and

Anchorage Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolita ...

stations.

Government and infrastructure

The City of Ketchikan operates under a council-manager form of government. 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. 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. 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

fact A fact is a truth, true data, datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance. Standard reference works are often used to Fact-checking, check facts. Science, Scientific facts are verified by repeatable careful observation or measurement by ...

the first career member of the

Alaska Legislature The Alaska State 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 a ...

. Walker served in the territorial Senate for 16 years before losing reelection in 1948. Ketchikan native Terry Gardiner was the youngest person elected to the

Alaska House of Representatives The Alaska House of Representatives is the lower house in the Alaska State 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 pe ...

at age 22. The

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

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. 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 industry, sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light district ...

known as Creek Street, with

brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...

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 (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

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 Tourism, tours k ...

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 Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show, a

lumberjack Lumberjack is a mostly North American term for workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees. The term usually refers to loggers in the era before 1945 in the United States, when trees were felled us ...

show, is performed near Ketchikan Creek between May and September. The

Misty Fiords National Monument Misty Fjords National Monument (or Misty Fiords National Monument) is a national monument and wilderness area administered by the U.S. Forest Service as part of the Tongass National Forest. Misty Fiords is about east of Ketchikan, Alaska, alon ...

is one of the area's major attractions, and the Tongass National Forest 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 A federation (als ...

. 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

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 a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

Lumber

Ketchikan Pulp Company (KPC), a subsidiary of Louisiana-Pacific Corp., was headquartered just outside Ketchikan's city limits on the shores of Ward Cove. The company's

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 borough seat is Palmer, and the largest community is the census-designated place of Knik-Fairview. As of the 2020 census ...

, the ''Susitna'' is the result of planning by Admiral Jay M. Cohen, 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 Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...

. 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 (AP&T).

Transportation

Ketchikan serves as both an air and marine transportation hub for southern

. The Ketchikan International Airport 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 fifth-largest airline in North America when measured by scheduled passengers carried, as of 2024. Alaska, togethe ...

nonstop jet service to and from

Juneau Juneau ( ; ), officially the City and Borough of Juneau, is the capital of the U.S. state of Alaska, located along the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle. Juneau was named the capital of Alaska in 1906, when the government of wha ...

, Sitka and Wrangell, with direct service to

, and as a bush carrier and charter aircraft hub for destinations such as

Hyder Hyder can refer to: Places *Hyder, Alaska, U.S. ** Hyder Seaplane Base * Hyder, Arizona, U.S. ** Hyder Valley * Hyder Creek, is a river in New York, U.S. Other uses *Hyder (defunct company), a former Welsh utility company **Hyder Consulting, a su ...

, 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. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...

began operating seasonal service to Seattle in May 2015. Ketchikan receives service from two separate ferry lines. Ketchikan is a major port along the

's Inside Passage route. Vessels depart northbound to Alaskan ports of call and southbound to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a six-hour trip, — where a connection can be made to the

BC Ferries British Columbia Ferry Services Inc., Trade name, operating as BC Ferries (BCF), is a former provincial Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation, now operating as an independently managed, State-owned enterprise, publicly owned Canadian c ...

system — and

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the county seat of Whatcom County, Washington, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It lies south of the Canada–United States border, U.S.–Canada border, between Vancouver, British Columbia, ...

, 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 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 est ...

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 ...

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. Notable Alumni * Isaac Updike, professional steeplechaser * Rud ...

** Revilla Junior/Senior High School ** Schoenbar Middle School

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 U.S. states of Alaska, Oregon, and Washington. The organization is headquartered in Vancouver, Washington, and was founded by the ...

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 the Coachella Valley region of Riverside County, California. The city is located in the Colorado Desert arm of the Sonoran Desert, about east of Palm Springs, northeast of San Diego and east of Los Angeles. The popula ...

* Kanayama,

Gifu is a Cities of Japan, 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. Durin ...

, Japan

ormer Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any small to very large marine gastropod mollusc in the family Haliotidae, which once contained six genera but now contains only one genus, ''Haliotis''. Other commo ...

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 ( 900 – 20 May 965), sometimes called the Great (),Thompson, 486. Also se was a nobleman from East Francia who ruled an initially modest march centred on Merseburg in the south of the present German state of Saxony-Anhalt, which he ...

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 Richard Dan "Danny" Edwards (born June 14, 1951) is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour and Champions Tour. He is the older brother of former PGA Tour player David Edwards. Edwards was born in Ketch ...

(born 1951), professional golfer * Nathan Jackson (born 1938),

artist famous for his carving of

totem poles Totem poles () 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 made from large t ...

Roy Jones Roy Levesta Jones Jr. (born January 16, 1969) is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes, including middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight. As an amateur he r ...

(1893–1974), first person to fly commercially in Alaska * Jerry Mackie (born 1962), Alaska state legislator and businessman, born in Ketchikan *

Jack McBride John F. "Jack" McBride (November 30, 1901 – October 11, 1966) was an American football player who played the positions of halfback, fullback, and quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He was born in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. ...

, legislator and member of city council * Tallie Medel, actress *

Frank Murkowski Frank Hughes Murkowski (born March 28, 1933) is an American politician. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as a United States Senate, United States Senator representing Alaska from 1981 to 2002 and as t ...

(born 1933), former

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

and

Governor of Alaska A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

; Murkowski grew up in Ketchikan, where his father was vice-president of the First National Bank of Ketchikan, which exists today as a Southeast regional bank called First Bank *

Lisa Murkowski Lisa Ann Murkowski ( ; born May 22, 1957) is an American attorney and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of Alaska, having held the seat since 2002. She is the first woman ...

(born 1957), second daughter of Frank Murkowski and his successor as U.S. Senator, born in Ketchikan *

Rudy Pankow Rudy Pankow (; born August 12, 1998) is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as JJ Maybank on the Netflix teen drama series ''Outer Banks''. Early life Rudy Pankow was born and raised in Ketchikan, Alaska. His p ...

(born 1998), American actor * William Paul (1885–1977), (''Shgúndi''), Tlingit statesman and leader in the

Alaska Native Brotherhood The Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) and its counterpart, the Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS), are two nonprofit organizations founded to address racism against Alaska Native peoples in Alaska. ANB was formed in 1912 and ANS founded three years lat ...

born near Ketchikan. Paul was the first Alaska Native to become an attorney and first elected to the Alaska Territorial legislature * Ray Troll (born 1954), artist famous for blending art and science in his fish-laden drawings * Don Watts (born 1956 or 1957), farmer and entrepreneur

In popular culture

Several movies have been shot in Ketchikan, including '' The Silver Horde'', ''

Spawn of the North ''Spawn of the North'' is a 1938 American adventure film directed by Henry Hathaway about rival fishermen in Alaska starring George Raft, Henry Fonda and Dorothy Lamour and featuring Akim Tamiroff and John Barrymore. ''Spawn of the North'' is b ...

'', ''

Timber Tramps ''Timber Tramps'' is a 1975 film directed by Tay Garnett and starring Claude Akins and Leon Ames. It was the final film by Garnett. Cast * Claude Akins as Matt * Leon Ames as Deacon * Eve Brent as Corey * Joseph Cotten as Greedy sawmill mogul * ...

'' and ''

Cry Vengeance ''Cry Vengeance'' is a 1954 American film noir crime film directed by and starring Mark Stevens.. The cast also includes Joan Vohs and Martha Hyer. It was produced by Lindsley Parsons and distributed by Allied Artists. Plot San Francisco ex-co ...

'', as well as episodes of the television programs ''

The Love Boat ''The Love Boat'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Wilford Lloyd Baumes that originally aired on ABC from September 24, 1977, to May 24, 1986. In addition, three TV movies aired before the regular series pre ...

'' and ''

Baywatch ''Baywatch'' is an American Drama (film and television), drama television series about lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, and Hawaii, starring David Hasselhoff. It was created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz ...

''. An episode of ''

Mythbusters ''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television series created by Peter Rees (producer), Peter Rees and produced by Beyond International in Australia. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast in ...

'' 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 National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Enter ...

series '' Alaska Wing Men'' in the episode "Fatal Crash" follows a

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and inci ...

investigator's site visit of a July 2010

bush pilot Bush flying refers to aircraft operations carried out in the bush. Bush flying involves operations in rough terrain where there are often no prepared landing strips or runways, frequently necessitating that bush planes be equipped with abnormal ...

fatal crash near Ketchikan. In ''

The Young Pope ''The Young Pope'' is a satirical drama television series created and directed by Paolo Sorrentino for Sky Atlantic, HBO, and Canal+. The series stars Jude Law as the disruptive Pope Pius XIII and Diane Keaton as his confidante, Sister Mary, i ...

'', the character Pope Pius XIII sends several cardinals who upset him to Ketchikan as a punishment, which is depicted as a frozen wasteland. In

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), '' Death of a Salesman'' (1 ...

's play ''

Death of a Salesman ''Death of a Salesman'' is a 1949 stage play written by the American playwright Arthur Miller. The play premiered on Broadway in February 1949, running for 742 performances. It is a two-act tragedy set in late 1940s Brooklyn told through a ...

'', Uncle Ben must leave Willy to go to Ketchikan, where he presumably made part of his fortune.

References

External links

*
Ketchikan Visitor's Bureau

by Dave Kiffer * {{Authority control 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