Brown & Hawkins Store | |
Alaska Heritage Resources Survey | |
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| Location | 205, 207 and 209 4th Avenue, Seward, Alaska |
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| Coordinates | 60°6′5″N149°26′27″W / 60.10139°N 149.44083°W Coordinates: 60°6′5″N149°26′27″W / 60.10139°N 149.44083°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1904 |
| NRHP reference # | 88000710 [1] |
| AHRS # | SEW-038 |
| Added to NRHP | June 23, 1988 |
Brown & Hawkins is a general store in Seward, Alaska. It was founded in 1904 to serve the town and those constructing of the Alaska Central Railroad, and has been the oldest continuously operating business in Seward. [2] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. [1] [3] It was announced in 2013 that the owners were retiring without finding anyone to buy their business. [4]
A general merchant store is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general goods. The store carries routine stock and obtains special orders from warehouses. It differs from a convenience store or corner shop in that it will be the main shop for the community rather than a convenient supplement.
Seward 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, approximately 120 miles by road from Alaska's largest city, Anchorage, and nearly 1,300 miles from the closest point in the contiguous United States at Cape Flattery, Washington.
Alaska is a U.S. state in the northwest extremity of the United States West Coast, just across the Bering Strait from Asia. The Canadian province of British Columbia and territory of Yukon border the state to the east and southeast. Its most extreme western part is Attu Island, and it has a maritime border with Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. To the north are the Chukchi and Beaufort seas—southern parts of the Arctic Ocean. The Pacific Ocean lies to the south and southwest. It is the largest U.S. state by area and the seventh largest subnational division in the world. In addition, it is the 3rd least populous and the most sparsely populated of the 50 United States; nevertheless, it is by far the most populous territory located mostly north of the 60th parallel in North America: its population—estimated at 738,432 by the United States Census Bureau in 2015— is more than quadruple the combined populations of Northern Canada and Greenland. Approximately half of Alaska's residents live within the Anchorage metropolitan area. Alaska's economy is dominated by the fishing, natural gas, and oil industries, resources which it has in abundance. United States armed forces bases and tourism are also a significant part of the economy.
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Brown & Hawkins was a business venture between partners Charles E. Brown of Montreal, Quebec, Canada and T.W. Hawkins of Roanoke, Virginia. The two men met in Nome during the Gold Rush. [2] They first started business together in Valdez in 1900 before moving to Seward in 1903. Their business in Seward included a store and bank. [2]
Montreal is the most populous municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec and the second-most populous municipality in Canada. Originally called Ville-Marie, or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city. The city is centred on the Island of Montreal, which took its name from the same source as the city, and a few much smaller peripheral islands, the largest of which is Île Bizard. It has a distinct four-season continental climate with warm to hot summers and cold, snowy winters.
Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres, making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Its southern border with the United States, stretching some 8,891 kilometres (5,525 mi), is the world's longest bi-national land border. Canada's capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
Roanoke is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2010 census, the population was 97,032. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia.
The store building began as a one-story 12 by 24 feet (3.7 m × 7.3 m) frontier store with a low false front in 1903. It evolved through four periods of construction to add and modify additional structures. [3]
As of 2009 Brown & Hawkins was still owned by the Hawkins family, making it the oldest store in Alaska under the same ownership. The original Mosler safe and brass cash register were displayed in the store.
The Mosler Safe Company was a manufacturer of security equipment, most notably safes and bank vaults, beginning in 1874 and ending with its bankruptcy in 2001.
On June 4, 2019, Brown & Hawkins Building was sold to Jeffrey and Michelle Cobble.
“The sale of the building is really big news. According to First American Title, it is the last parcel of land that has remained with the family of one of Seward’s founding fathers to be title transferred.
Although we have had several persons interested in this Historic Property on the National Register this is the first Buyers we have felt comfortable with being good custodians for this Brown and Hawkins historic treasure.
The Buyer is an architect who appreciates heritage and both he and his wife are professional wildlife and outdoor photographers who desire to establish a very special Cobble-Art Gallery on sight.
So, needless to say, we handpicked these buyers to end this era of Brown & Hawkins in Seward and to move forward with our love for Seward with people who care as much as we do for this wonderful town and residents.
Our four generations of Darlings were on hand this week to share this special time with us.” - Iris Darling
