Matanuska-Susitna 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.
Palmer is a city in and the borough seat of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, located 42 miles northeast of Anchorage on the Glenn Highway in the Matanuska Valley. It is the ninth-largest city in Alaska, and forms part of the Anchorage Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city is 5,888, down from 5,937 in 2010.
Talkeetna is a census-designated place (CDP) in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, United States. At the 2020 census the population was 1,055, up from 876 in 2010.
Anthony Carroll Knowles is an American politician and businessman who served as Governor of Alaska from 1994 to 2002. Barred from seeking a third consecutive term as governor in 2002, he ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2004 and again for governor in 2006. In September 2008, Knowles became president of the National Energy Policy Institute, a non-profit energy policy organization funded by billionaire George Kaiser's family foundation, and located at the University of Tulsa.
The Alaska Railroad is a Class II railroad that operates freight and passenger trains in the state of Alaska. The railroad's mainline is over 470 miles (760 km) long and runs between Seward on the southern coast and Fairbanks, near the center of the state and the Arctic Circle, passing through Anchorage and Denali National Park where 17% of visitors arrive by train. The railroad has about 656 miles (1,056 km) of track, including sidings, rail yards and branch lines, including the branch to Whittier, where the railroad interchanges freight railcars with the contiguous United States via rail barges that sail between the Port of Whittier and Harbor Island in Seattle.
Carl Benjamin "Ben" Eielson was an American aviator, bush pilot and explorer. Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska is named in his honor.
James L. Sykes is a producer and elected official in the state of Alaska notable for being one of the founders of the Green Party of Alaska.
Fred Machetanz was an Alaskan painter and illustrator who specialized in depictions of Alaskan scenes, people and wildlife. He first came to the territory in 1935, when he traveled to Unalakleet to visit his uncle, Charles Traeger, who ran a trading post there and spent 2 years developing a portfolio of Alaskan scenes. After leaving Alaska, he spent some time as an illustrator in New York, but longed to return to Alaska. He returned in 1942 after volunteering with the U.S. Navy and requesting a posting to the Aleutian Islands during World War II. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander and was responsible for intelligence for the North Pacific Command. After the war, he trained for a short time at the Art Students League in New York, studying lithography under Will Barnet, and then returned to Unalakleet in 1946.
Castner's Cutthroats was the unofficial name for the 1st Alaskan Combat Intelligence Platoon (Provisional), also known as Alaskan Scouts. Castner's Cutthroats fought during World War II and were instrumental in defeating the Japanese during the Aleutian Islands Campaign. The unit was composed of just sixty-five men selected to perform reconnaissance missions in the Aleutian Islands during the war.
James Leroy Bondsteel was a United States Army soldier who served during the Vietnam War, where he earned the Medal of Honor. His Medal of Honor, awarded in November 1973, was the last presented by President Richard Nixon.
Byers Lake is a small lake in Denali State Park, within the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, United States, 28 miles (45 km) north of Talkeetna. The lake is named for a fisherman who was brought there many times by bush pilot Don Sheldon in the 1950s. It is accessible from the George Parks Highway and has a developed campground, several public-use cabins and a small boat dock. The Alaska Veterans Memorial is on a hilltop adjacent to the lake. Gasoline-powered motors and floatplane landings are not permitted on the lake. The lake used to contain a sizable population of lake trout but due to overfishing in the time since the highway was built in 1972 the population has dwindled, and landings of lake trout are now rare, although there are still burbot in the lake as well. Migrating salmon also come into the lake but salmon fishing is not permitted. Campers are advised to keep a clean camp as the campground is frequently visited by bears. The lake is also home in summer months to trumpeter swans and common loons.
Denali Alaskan Insurance is an insurance agency based in Anchorage, Alaska, offering both commercial and personal lines of insurance. The company was first formed as Alaska Business Insurance (ABI) in 1983, selling commercial lines of insurance to its customers. The original owners who founded the company were Wayne Burger and Jim Campbell.
Cape Pole is a former census-designated place (CDP) and populated place on the eastern shore of Fishermans Harbor, on the southwest coast of Kosciusko Island in Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, Alaska. It was a thriving logging camp from 1954 until it was shut down by a federal court ruling in 1978. A post office was established in 1949 and discontinued in 1953. As of 2019, some buildings still remain at the townsite, but has not reported a separate population since 1980.
Matanuska-Susitna Valley is an area in Southcentral Alaska south of the Alaska Range about 35 miles (56 km) north of Anchorage, Alaska. It is known for the world record sized cabbages and other vegetables displayed annually in Palmer at the Alaska State Fair. It includes the valleys of the Matanuska, Knik, and Susitna Rivers. 11,000 of Mat-Su Valley residents commute to Anchorage for work . It is the fastest growing region in Alaska and includes the towns of Palmer, Wasilla, Big Lake, Houston, Willow, Sutton, and Talkeetna. The Matanuska-Susitna Valley is primarily the land of the Dena'ina and Ahtna Athabaskan people.
Denali Alaskan Home Loans is the home-financing department of Denali Federal Credit Union, based in Anchorage, Alaska, offering a variety of mortgage services for members of the Credit Union throughout Alaska. The Credit Union purchased Northern Pacific Mortgage in May, 2001.
The Denali Destroyer Dolls (DDD) is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Wasilla, Alaska. Founded in 2010, the league consists of a single team, which competes against teams from other leagues.
John Baldwin Gourley is an American musician, singer, and songwriter from Alaska. He is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist in the Portland, Oregon rock band Portugal. The Man, with the hit song "Feel It Still". Gourley was previously the lead singer in post-hardcore band, Anatomy of a Ghost. Gourley is also a visual artist, who often uses the alias The Fantastic The.
MatSu United FC is a semi-professional soccer club based in Palmer, Alaska. The club began playing in the Last Frontier Division of the United Premier Soccer League in 2019.
Dorothy Swanda Jones was an Alaskan politician in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. After her death, the Mat-Su Borough Administrative Headquarters building, located in Palmer, Alaska, was renamed in her honor as the Dorothy Swanda Jones Building in 1994.
Bonnie Carroll is an American widow who is the president and founder of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), an organization that provides care, welfare and support to people who have lost a loved one in military service. She is the surviving spouse of Army Brig. Gen. Tom Carroll who died in an Army C-12 crash on November 12, 1992. In 2015 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
